In 2008, after a short but intense period of depression, Maggie, who was only 29 years old, took her own life. Her parents Bob and Kati and brother David set up the Maggie Evans Fund in her memory, which was then taken up as a donor advised fund by the Oxfordshire Community Foundation.

The fund is used to help children discover interests that were Maggie’s own passions: a love and appreciation of stories, poems and illustrations; creative writing of their own; and the exploration of different cultures through languages and translation.

Thanks to a great many generous donations over the years, the fund has now grown to well over £200,000 in total. Its primary activity is Maggie’s Day, an event held each year that allows Oxfordshire schoolchildren from many different backgrounds to explore the power of stories and poetry. It culminates in a visit to the Story Museum in Oxford which includes a visual and interactive session with a well-known children’s author. This encourages their love of reading and sparks their engagement with the world of the imagination in general.

As the scope of the fund broadened, it has branched out to further projects, also focused on literacy and culture. With Extreme Reading Adventures, we have pioneered an approach to reluctant and disadvantaged readers, which turns books into real-life experiences and has been very successful in motivating children both in small groups and as individuals isolated by the recent lockdowns. We very much appreciate donations of any size to help realise our goals, and to help preserve Maggie’s literary legacy.