The Extensive Reading Foundation is deeply saddened by the passing of Philip Prowse in June 2023. Philip was a founding member of the Board of the Extensive Reading Foundation. Despite his status as a series editor which restricted the scope of his activities within the foundation he found many ways to support the ERF from the sidelines. Philip had written numerous graded readers, first as an author for Macmillan, and then later when he was series editor of the Cambridge English Reader series. Two of his books stand out, “The Death of a Soldier” and “Why?” both of which concerned the futility of war couched in language that even beginning learners could reflect upon. The Cambridge English Reader series itself was in a class by itself – a well-edited series of original stories only, in clear genres, perfectly graded into six levels that epitomized the quality that the Extensive Reading Foundation was attempting to promote through its ERF Language Learner Literature Award programme. See this link for the full obituary.
