Manchester volunteers pay tribute to Dolly Parton, and tell local families her books will keep arriving
Manchester Imagination Library has posted more than 50,000 free books to local children since 2018.
Volunteers at Manchester Imagination Library, the charity that runs Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in parts of Manchester, have paid tribute to Dolly Parton following her death on Tuesday, and reassured local families that the free monthly books will continue to arrive as normal.
“Dolly Parton posted a book to a child in Manchester every month without ever meeting them, and she did it because her own father could not read,” said Janet FitzGerald, Chair of Manchester Imagination Library. “Every one of our volunteers is thinking about her family today.
“I also want to say something very plainly to the families we work with. Nothing changes. Your child’s next book is already on its way.”
Manchester Imagination Library is run entirely by volunteers. It became a registered charity in April 2018 and received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2021. Working alongside local partners including Read Manchester, Manchester City Council’s Best Start family hubs and Manchester Libraries, it has now gifted more than 50,000 books to nearly 3,000 Manchester children.
Children are registered from birth and receive a book through the post every month until their fifth birthday, addressed to them by name, at no cost to their family.
The Dollywood Foundation, which runs the Imagination Library worldwide, said on Tuesday that it had prepared carefully for the future and would carry Dolly Parton’s mission forward. Jeff Conyers, President of The Dollywood Foundation, said that “the mission she gave us is as clear today as it has ever been”.
Manchester Imagination Library will continue with its Year of Reading 2026 project, which aims to register up to 400 babies born in Manchester this year and fund their books all the way through to school age. It costs £26 to send a child twelve books in a year, and £130 to keep a child on the programme for the full five years, so funding a cohort of 400 children through to their fifth birthday costs £52,000.
“The Foundation has said that Dolly built this to last for children’s lifetimes rather than her own, and in Manchester that means carrying on, and it means growing,” said Janet FitzGerald. “Around 7,000 babies are born in this city every year and we reach a fraction of them. Our aim is to reach every single one. That is what Dolly Parton’s legacy in Manchester looks like, and we would love local businesses and local people to help us build it, whenever they feel ready to.”
One Manchester parent whose child receives the books said: “My child gets really excited when her new book arrives in the post. We read them together and she enjoys turning the pages and looking at the pictures.”
