The Reader Online

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy is to join 21 other leading poets for a Poetry Live for Haiti.

Duffy, who was made poet laureate last year, told the BBC:

Like everyone else, I was very deeply affected by reports from Haiti about the earthquake and its aftermath, and I just thought to myself ‘this is going to take years to put right’. These people will need support for a long, long time to come.

Liverpool poet Roger McGough and recent contributer to The Reader magazine,  Andrew Motion, will be taking part, as well as Jo Shapcott, John Agard, Dannie Abse, Gillian Clarke and many others.

Poetry Live for Haiti will be held at Central Hall, Westminster on Saturday, from 2.30pm. It is hoped the event will raise £20,000 for the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

Romantic Music for a Valentine’s Weekend
13th February, 7.3opm

The University of Liverpool Chamber Choir, who graced the stage with their beautiful music at last year’s Penny Readings, will be giving a concert at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King Liverpool on Saturday 13th February at 7:30pm (doors open at 7pm and interval refreshments are available).

This is a University of Liverpool Concert, which will hope to establish a closer link with the Cathedral. It is also the Choir’s foundation concert to help raise funds for a London tour in late February and raise awareness of the University’s Department of Music, which is going to Shanghai for the World Expo 2010.

Ticket Prices:  £7 (£5 Concessions); tickets available from Cathedral Gift Shop (0151 707 3525) or on the door. Click here to see more Cathedral Concerts.

On Thursday 4th February the Indian poet, Mohan Rana, will read his poems in Hindi alongside newly commissioned translations read by Bernard O’Donoghue.

This special event, held at The Whitechapel Gallery in East London to coincide with their exhibition ‘Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh’, will be the first time these translations are read in public.

For more information visit The Poetry Translation website.

Liverpool Libraries are hosting an event with the union Unison in Hornby Library in Central Library tomorrow, Thursday 21st Jan, from 1 – 5pm.

This is part of an international movement to increase understanding. Unison have trained a number of their members to be able to tell an interesting story based on their lives so they become a ‘living book’. On the day people will have a chance to borrow them so they can listen to their story for about 20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions and discussion at the end.

This is a great way to chat to interesting people that you wouldn’t normally meet and promises to be a great way to spend an afternoon. Andy Johnson, Lifelong Learning Services Manager for Liverpool Libraries tells us of his experience:

I went to one in Blackpool and met a woman who is a refugee from Lebanon, heard her story as to why she cane to this country plus fascinating information about her culture plus heard the story of a young man who is involved in Burmese politics. I learned so much that would have been difficult to do in another way.

You can just turn up at the Hornby Library in Central Library on Thursday afternoon – everyone is welcome. If you would like to find out further details, please contact Helen M Titherington at Unison on 0161 661 6731 or email h.titherington@unison.co.uk.

We can now confrim that ‘New Beginnings: Get Into Reading Conference, Supper and Readers’ Day’ will now be taking place on Friday 5^th and Saturday 6^th March at Blackburne House, Liverpool.

Full details can be found on our website. Delegates already booked to attend the conference will be contacted by the end of the week to have their registration at the rescheduled events confirmed.

3-day Conference at London South Bank University (London SE1)

24 – 26 February 2010

National and international experts will host a series of seminars to review current knowledge and discuss the importance of Health Literacy (HL) in the UK. Seminars will be interactive, with speakers and the audience reviewing current knowledge and the relevance and importance of HL in UK health, education and society.  Sessions will be recorded and proceedings of the conference will be published.

Cost: £50 ($84) per day (or £120 ($200) for all 3 days)

For more information, directions and a booking form: email Alison or Saffron on info.esu@lsbu.ac.uk tel: 020 7815 6934/44 or visit our website: www.lsbu.ac.uk/enterprise

Due to the current bad weather, which has meant many of our guests and speakers are unable to make it to Liverpool, and the prospect of more to come, the New Beginnings GIR Conference and Readers’ Day have been postponed.

The event will be rescheduled – will have a New Beginning, you might say – and more details will follow about this next week. Unfortunately we will not be able to offer refunds, but all tickets will be carried over to the new date. If you have already set off and are unable to return, please contact us immediately by phone on 0151 794 2830.

For now, however, please accept our apologies: no one is more disappointed than we are, but we have been advised that this is a non-essential event and that the responsible thing to do is to postpone.

If you need to cancel your hotel booking (and you made it online) please contact The Mersey Partnership Conference Bureau on +44 (0)151 237 3938 or email conferences@merseyside.org.uk (event code: TMPREADER10).

The New Beginnings Friday Night Supper, ‘The Value of Reading in a Life’, has sold out! The last ticket has just been taken for the supper but all is not lost if you’d like to join our award winning authors and guest speakers for New Beginnings: there are still a few places left for the Get Into Reading conference on Friday 8th Jan and the Readers’ Day on Saturday 9th Jan (all events take place at Blackburne House). Do hurry though, booking closes tomorrow!

Before you head off for the festive break, have you remembered to sign up for ‘New Beginnings‘, our first national Get Into Reading Conference, Supper and Readers’ Day on 8th – 9th Jan 2010 in Liverpool?

Join in the conversation about Get Into Reading at the Conference on Friday 8th Jan and take part in a fun and inspiring Readers’ Day with guest authors on Saturday 9th Jan  – plus, don’t forget the Friday Night Supper: ‘The Value of Reading in a Life’ (with Clare Allan, Brian Keenan, Dr David Fearnley and Jane Davis)

Confirmed speakers over the two days are:

• Clare Allan (author, Poppy Shakespeare)
• Susan Blishen (Mental Health Foundation)
• Dr Jane Davis (Founder and Director of The Reader Organisation)
• Dr David Fearnley (RCPysch Psychiatrist of the Year; Medical Director and Deputy Chief of Mersey Care NHS Trust)
• Brian Keenan (author, An Evil Cradling)
• Blake Morrison (author, journalist and Chair of The Reader Organisation)
• Stuart Smith (Executive Director, Children’s Services, Liverpool City Council)
• plus, Reader Development Librarians, teachers and health professionals, involved with Get Into Reading from across the UK.

… and there are a whole series of workshops to choose from over the two days.

Tickets cost £120 for the whole New Beginnings Experience (£80 for the Get Into Reading Conference, £25 for the Friday Night Supper, £30 for the Readers’ Day) and are going fast, so book your place as soon as possible! Click here to book.

For more information, please contact Claire Speer, Conference Administrator: clairespeer@thereader.org.uk.

Looking for something to get you in the festive mood, with more than a touch of literary appeal? If you didn’t manage to snap up tickets for The Penny Readings, don’t be too sad as there’s plenty of time to catch two very special seasonal productions at The Lantern Theatre.

The Lantern Theatre is a newly opened fringe theatre located in Blundell Street, Liverpool City Centre which has its roots in educational and community-based theatre, and is planning to showcase a range of original and classic productions in the upcoming year. It has chosen to kick off proceedings with versions of two of the best loved Christmas literature classics, A Christmas Carol and The Snow Queen.

Perhaps the most famous Christmas story ever, A Christmas Carol promises to stay true to Dickens’ original text and characters while also injecting some originality onto the stage through work with masks and physical theatre. The production runs from 5^th to 30^th December 2009 (excluding 23^rd-28^th December), with tickets costing £10 and £8 for concessions.

The Snow Queen, one of Hans Christian Andersen’s most enchanting stories, is sure to transport both children and adults alike into a magical and mysterious fairytale world. It promises to capture “the power of friendship and the magic of Christmas”. It runs from 5^th December 2009 to 6^th February 2010, with tickets from £6.50 for adults and £5 concessions.

For more information, visit http://www.thelanterntheatre.co.uk/whats-on/ or telephone 0151 703 0000.