Interested in investigating the role of literature in Bibliotherapy and health? But don’t want to be suffocated by the confinements of a conventional academic course?
Then you might be interested in the M.A. degree course: Reading in Practice, run by the Centre for Research into Reading, Information and Linguistic Systems (CRILS) at The University of Liverpool. The first Masters degree of its kind is preoccupied with the wider and deeper ways in which serious creative literature ‘finds’ people, emotionally and imaginatively, by offering living models and visions of human troubles and human possibilities.
Accompanied by a reading list which includes brilliant works of all kinds, from novels to essays on philosophy, you will be helped to develop the ability to use all literature as a form of personal time-travel and meditation. You will also learn how, in turn, you may re-create this process for others, through the formation of equivalent reading-groups based on The Reader Organisation’s ‘Get Into Reading’ model.
This course is perfect for those who don’t want to have to read loads of secondary criticism but want to use reading to enable them to think their thoughts better and find new ones. A first degree in literature is not required: you just have to be a lively, seriously committed reader!
Here’s what some of the past students have to say about their time on the M.A:
“The course often felt very hard and it should continue to do so. I feel bereft having finished, and wish I could do it over again”
“It’s such a personal course, where you have to bring so much of yourself”
“I feel that through my reading and writing on the MA I have consolidated some of the thoughts and feelings that have been floating in my head for years, finding the words to understand them.”
If any of this sounds interesting and you would like to find out a little more about the course details, the application process and who to contact, please read the M.A. document below, in which you will find out more, or visit the CRILS page of the University of Liverpool website.
Job Opportunity: Volunteer Assistant
The Reader Organisation is seeking to appoint an additional Volunteer Assistant to support our growing volunteering programmes, funded by the National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund.
- Part time: 4 days a week
- Rolling one year contract until July 2016
- £15,000 pro rata
- Start date: 1st August 2013
The role will support our Big Lottery project, which engages people experiencing or at risk of experiencing mental health problems in a range of volunteering opportunities across The Reader Organisation in Merseyside. Its focus is to deliver volunteer-led reading groups in care homes for older people.
The post holder will provide administrative support to the Volunteer Managers and also have a key role to play in the on going support of volunteers on the project.
The post holder will be required to work in dual locations at both our Head Office in Everton and our Wirral office, in Birkenhead.
A full job description of this role can be downloaded here: Download Job Description
How to apply
Please download and complete an application form, returning it along with a covering letter, explaining how you meet the requirements of this role, to michellebarrett@thereader.org.uk
NB: CVs will not be considered.
Deadline for applications: 3pm, Monday 10th June 2013.
NB: applications arriving after 3pm will not be considered
You will be notified if you are to be called for interview. Volume of applications may make replies to unsuccessful candidates impossible.
Interviews will take place on Tuesday 18th June 2013 at The Reader Organisation, The Friary Centre, Bute Street, Liverpool L5 3LA
Interviews will include a short IT test.
We love the Willoughby Book Club!
We’re beginning the task of linings the shelves at Calderstones Mansion House with lots of brilliant books for our new shared reading groups there, and just the other week we began to build our young people’s library through a mammoth donation from the Willoughby Book Club, an independent book gift service run by the ‘Willoughby Book Worms’ Adam and Chloe Pollard.
Based in a tiny village in South Leicestershire, the Willoughby Book Club offers a range of book subscriptions for readers of all ages and interests, tailoring orders to individual reading preferences, allowing recipients to get their hands on books they’re bound to love. Adam and Chloe started the book club as a means of sharing their lifelong passion of great literature and beautifully bound books, and to help encourage and promote the idea of reading for pleasure – something we’re definitely on board with here at The Reader Organisation.
Since setting up in 2012, the Willoughby Book Club has gone from strength to strength, partnering with Book Aid International and being featured in The Guardian’s ‘best subscription gifts’ for Christmas 2012. Now we’re delighted that they’re supporting our work at Calderstones by providing us with a donation of just under 100 books to be used in our new young person’s library and our new Saturday morning reading groups for young people aged 8-13 at the Mansion House. The books will certainly be put to good use, inviting young people in the community around Calderstones to read for pleasure and share in the many joys that books bring – a goal that we share with the Willoughby Book Club.
Stay tuned for more from the Willoughby Book Club and Calderstones in the coming months! You can find out more about the book club by visiting the Willoughby Book Club website, Twitter, Facebook page and Tumblr blog.
Job Opportunity: People and Support Administrator
The Reader Organisation is pleased to announce a new job opportunity for the role of People and Support Administrator.
- Based in Liverpool
- £15,000 p.a.
- Immediate start
This is an important role sitting within our People and Support team providing support at the core of The Reader Organisation. The post holder needs to work closely with other members of the People and Support team and more widely in order to provide seamless support to Staff, Trustees and Volunteers alike, covering for members of the team as and when appropriate. The post holder needs to be able to work under pressure, be happy dealing with confidential and sensitive information and always be approachable and friendly.
How to apply
Visit our website to download a full job description for this role and application form.
Please complete the application form and submit a covering letter, explaining how you meet the requirements of this role, to michellebarrett@thereader.org.uk
NB: CVs will not be considered.
Deadline for applications: 12pm, Friday 31st May 2013.
NB: applications arriving after 12pm will not be considered
You will be notified if you are to be called for interview by Tuesday 4th June 2013. If you have not heard from us by then, you have been unsuccessful. Volume of applications may make replies to everyone impossible.
Interviews will take place on Thursday 6th June 2013 at The Reader Organisation, The Friary Centre, Bute Street, Liverpool L5 3LA
Featured Poem: Affliction (IV) by George Herbert
At Shared Reading for Healthy Communities, The Reader Organisation’s fourth annual National Conference last week, one of the central topics of debate of the day was how literature could be about and speak to the whole person. Exploring how we can use literature to be part of A New Language for Mental Health with guest speakers Alan Yates, Professor Louis Appleby and Dirk Terryn, our Director Jane Davis spoke about how that long before medical terms were in use, literature and poetry seemed to speak the language of human emotion deeply accurately, exploring the spectrum of the human condition.
Jane made particular reference to two of her favourites in the discussion about how literature can be used to describe and inform matters of health – one of the oldest poems and record of human thoughts, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and much of the work of 17th Century poet George Herbert. What may have then been considered religious can now be seen through different eyes, when considering many humanly identifiable conditions.
For this week’s Featured Poem, we’re featuring one of Herbert’s most moving works, which speaks profoundly about despair, mental and emotional trouble, being lost – and finding the courage to go on. An inspiring choice to continue to think about the deeply connected combination of literature and health.
Affliction (IV)
Broken in pieces all asunder,
Lord, hunt me not,
A thing forgot,
Once a poor creature, now a wonder,
A wonder tortured in the space
Betwixt this world and that of grace.
My thoughts are all a case of knives,
Wounding my heart
With scattered smart ;
As wat’ring-pots give flowers their lives.
Nothing their fury can control,
While they do wound and prick my soul.
All my attendants are at strife
Quitting their place
Unto my face :
Nothing performs the task of life :
The elements are let loose to fight,
And while I live, try out their right.
Oh help, my God ! let not their plot
Kill them and me,
And also Thee,
Who art my life : dissolve the knot,
As the sun scatters by his light
All the rebellions of the night.
Then shall those powers which work for grief,
Enter Thy pay,
And day by day
Labour Thy praise and my relief :
With care and courage building me,
Till I reach heav’n, and much more, Thee.
George Herbert
After months of preparation and anticipation, The Reader Organisation’s fourth annual National Conference ‘Shared Reading for Healthy Communities’ took place yesterday at the British Library Conference Centre in London. It was a big day by all accounts – we welcomed our largest number of delegates for a packed schedule with plenty of big ideas about shared reading, health, communities and a wellbeing approach for the ‘whole person’.
The day started with the very heart of shared reading, with an extract from Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey by Jane Davis and some incredibly inspiring testimonials from Get Into Reading group members Jane, Jon and Denise, who had very different but equally powerful stories of the effect their groups have had on their lives.
“For me, it was the start of my road to recovery…it has rebuilt my life”
Our first plenary session of the day provoked much discussion about how we can find A New Language for Mental Health – through literature, or otherwise. Alan Yates, Professor Louis Appleby and Dirk Terryn spoke about how language and literature can be used to talk about mental health and how exploration of both can benefit the individual and society.
After a varied morning programme Healthy People seminars, touching upon mental health, public health, chronic pain and dementia, it was time to welcome Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham MP, who discussed how reading English at university and literature has shaped his life and career. Andy spoke animatedly about his recent visit to a Get Into Reading group in Wigan, his belief that libraries and culture are vital for providing a social model of support and shared the literature that means the most to him, including the poetry of Tony Harrison – sharing some reading aloud by reading the poem Bookends.
Feeling suitably inspired, there was little time to stop as we headed into our afternoon session, Connected Communities. Professors Phil Davis and Rhiannon Corcoran got our brains electrified with fascinating talk about the connections between literature and neuro-science and our afternoon seminars kept the thinking going at full steam, with a vibrant evaluation amongst participants of our Reading in Secure Environments (RISE) project, and a seminar on shared reading and recovery, in libraries and for young people.
There was lots to consider about the current, ongoing impact of shared reading – but that didn’t stop us from finishing the day by looking to the future, and considering where precisely the model could be in ten years time. Nationally and internationally renowned? Taken out into the realm of technology? Translated into hundreds of languages? Lots of exciting things to consider against the backdrop of The International Centre for Reading and Wellbeing at Calderstones.
And the conversation wasn’t just within the walls of the British Library Conference Centre – it was great to see so much buzz throughout the day on Twitter, using the hashtag #TROConf:
“Incredible stories – tear jerkers and goosebumps – at
@thereaderorg conference today”“Stimulating conference hosted by
@thereaderorg about the power of shared reading & mental health/well being. So many stories”“Amazing presentation on ‘Literature and Neuro-science,’ investigating language and brain stimulation at
#TROConf@thereaderorg““Inspiring stories about reading making people’s lives better- best conference I’ve been to for ages.Thanks
@thereaderorg“
What a day indeed. Here’s to the future and all its many possibilities for shared reading…
Make sure you keep an eye on The Reader Online in the coming weeks for more insight from Shared Reading for Healthy Communities – and keep your thoughts coming on Twitter too: #TROConf
St George’s Hall Storytelling Day
St George’s Hall Storytelling Day
10am-4pm, Saturday 18th May
St George’s Hall, Liverpool L1 1JJ
The In Other Words Liverpool Literary Festival will be coming to a close this week, but there’s one final and very fun event that you can join in with this Saturday at St George’s Hall as part of the festival.
Join in the Storytelling Day from 10am to 4pm for a free and fun day of family storytelling and author readings, including appearances from Arabella McIntyre Brown, Rob Keeley, Jon Mayhew and Curtis Watt. The Reader Organisation will be there too, hosting Teddy Bear Story Time at 12.15pm and 2.15pm. Whether your bear is old or new, big or small, tatty or well-dressed, bring them along to share some favourite stories and get crafty.
It’s only a couple of minutes walk away from the newly refurbished Liverpool Central Library, opening on Friday 17th May, so the story time doesn’t have to end.
The event is free and there’s no need to book, however it is advised to go to the Heritage Centre in St George’s Hall 15 minutes prior to the start of each author reading to be directed to the location of each storytelling session. For more information, see the event listing on the In Other Words site on It’s Liverpool.
