The Reader Online

The snow didn’t hold us back this time and the new beginning for ‘New Beginnings’, our Conference, Supper and Readers’ Day, was deemed a triumphant success from all involved and attending. Delegates joined us from as far a field as London, Dundee, Cornwall, Durham, Monmouth and Denmark, to join in the discussion about the future of Get Into Reading and enjoy lots of reading together.

At the GIR Conference, Jane Davis talked through the story of Get Into Reading, which was followed by Blake Morrison talking about his first visit to Merseyside to write ‘that’ article and the impact that had not just on us but on him also. This was followed by a showcase of GIR facilitators from over the country, explaining how they’ve taken GIR back to where they live. The morning and afternoon workshops, which covered such diverse topics as: Reading with Young People, What is Reading?, MerseyBEAT Research Project and Get Into Reading in Libraries; were felt by delegates to be really informative and engaging – as was the whole conference. One lady said to me, “thank you for this, it’s been an invaluable experience for me.”

A particular highlight from Friday were the testimoinies spoken by some of our courageous Get Into Reading members, which were deeply moving and inspiring.

The Friday Night Supper saw Blackburne House transformed from day conference venue to an inviting, atmospheric dinner venue. Jane and Phil Davis were joined by David Constantine and Clare Allan to discuss ‘The Value of Reading in a Life’, which led to some amusing and heartfelt stories of the impact of reading. The audience joined in the conversation in great spirit and everyone left very full of food for the body and soul.

The Readers’ Day was great fun! Radio Merseyside’s Roger Phillips was our host and we had the presence of Clare Allan, Tim Pears and David and Helen Constantine, as well as TRO staff Angela Macmillan, Kate McDonnell and Jane Davis recommending their favourite reads for the first part of the day. Brian’s Paradise Lost workshop was particularly popular and I think everyone’s agreed that he needs to do one for each book of Milton’s epic…

Some comments from attendees:

“I found all the sessions so helpful and informative and the whole atmosphere so friendly and welcoming.”

“It’s been an invaluable experience for me.”

“A phenomenal inspiration: buzzy atmosphere, inspiring content, great lunch, excellent venue, fantastic organisers and punters, really good.”

“Please do this again next year!”

The Reading Revolution, it’s happening!

The longlist of books to be considered for this year’s Orange Prize for Fiction is announced on 18 March.  To launch the promotion of the prize in Liverpool Libraries, one of last year’s shortlisted authors, Samantha Harvey, is coming to Liverpool on Friday 19^th March.

Samantha will be talking about her novel The Wilderness in the Central Library, William Brown Street, starting at 2.30pm.  The event is free and open to all.  Copies of the book will be on sale at the event and can be signed by the author.

The Wilderness tells the story of Jake, a 65 year old architect who develops Alzheimer’s disease.  It is a clear and moving portrait, not only of a sympathetic man, but also of a heartrending disease as seen from the inside out.

The event will be of particular interest to reading groups, who may want to explore the book further together, and also to general readers and people with a personal or professional contact with anyone who has Alzheimer’s disease.

For any more information about the event, please contact Peter Wallace, Reader Development Officer, at Kensington Library, Kensington, Liverpool, L7 2RJ: tel: 0151 233 4495; email wallacep@liverpool.gov.uk

‘Literature, Language and Human Consciousness: One Reader’s Report’

Professor Raymond Tallis (Visiting Professor, School of English)  will give a lecture entitled ‘Literature, Language and Human Consciousness: One Reader’s Report’ on Wednesday 10th March at 2.30 p.m. in the Leggate Theatre, Victoria Gallery and Museum, University of Liverpool (followed by a drinks reception).

Raymond Tallis is a philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic, and until recently was a physician and clinical scientist.  He was listed in the Economist’s Intelligent Life magazine  (Autumn 2009) as one of the top living polymaths in the world.

ALL WELCOME. Please contact Cathy Rees, School of English (reescm@liverpool.ac.uk) if you plan to attend the lecture.

Liverpool’s museums are marking International Women’s Day 2010 with a week of special events which aim to explore and celebrate the contributions women have made to our culture. As part of the programme, the Walker Art Gallery is holding a session entitled ‘Women Artists – A Poet’s View’ on Monday 8th March which promises to give an insight to female poets, charting the rise of women artists through poetry.

Led by Gladys Mary Coles, the workshop also gives the chance for attendees to get in touch with their creative side and get writing themselves. Guidance will be on hand to help develop writing technique, so complete novices and practising poets alike are catered for. The array of works on display in the exhibition are sure to drum up inspiration for visitors to produce their own poetic masterpieces.

The session takes place from 10am to 1pm. Places are limited, to book call 0151 478 4178.

For more information on the programme of events taking place, visit the National Museums Liverpool website.

It’s finally here, and there’s no snow(!), our ‘New Beginnings’ Get Into Reading Conference is being held today (and Readers’ Day tomorrow). Blake Morrison, Tim Pears, Dr David Fearnley, Clare Allan, David Constantine and many others to join us over the two days (and night!). A report will follow next week!

From Penny Markell, Project Manager for Get Into Reading London

At The Reading Cure event in the beautiful surroundings of the Royal Institute of British Architects in London yesterday more than 70 people from health and mental health services, libraries,homelessness organisations and publishing companies, as well as interested writers, journalists, counsellors and an architect joined us to hear about the power of reading groups, and eat cup cakes.

Andrew McCulloch and Jane Davis

Jane Davis (Director, TRO) read ‘Crossing The Bar’ by Tennyson, showed photos demonstrating the huge range of people coming to reading groups, and shared some experiences of the impact of reading on children, vulnerable adults and firefighters; Lindsey Dyer (Director, Service Users and Carers, Mersey Care NHS Trust) talked about the learning and understanding she’s gained from books (particularly Laurie Lee) and why she commissioned Get Into Reading at Mersey Care; Dr David Fearnley (Medical Director, Mersey Care NHS Trust) told us about his group in a secure psychiatric unit at Mersey Care and their enjoyment of stories by Anton Chekov, Emily Bronte, Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie.  Andrew McCulloch (Chief Executive, Mental Health Foundation) worked hard to keep the speakers to time, allowing the audience to get involved and ask questions, and at the end lots of people stayed around to ask more questions, share their enthusiasm and desire to get reading groups happening in their organisation.  Get Into Reading London has truly arrived!

On Tuesday 2nd March, we officially launch Get Into Reading London at ‘The Reading Cure’, a special event at RIBA for health professionals, writers and publishers, commissioners and  community organisations interested in Get Into Reading.

Speaking at the event will be:

• Dr Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive, Mental Health Foundation
• Jane Davis, Director, The Reader Organisation
• Dr David Fearnley, Medical Director, Mersey Care NHS Trust (RCPsych Psychiatrist of the Year 200)
• Lindsey Dyer, Director of Service Users and Carers, Mersey Care NHS Trust

The event has sold out and we’re hoping that this will mean big things for Get Into Reading London, so watch this space… the Reading Revolution is growing!

Well, no, that time of year is not quite upon us yet BUT we did promise all you eager Penny Readings goers that there would be six tickets put up on eBay each month (from February until the event) for you to bid for.

The date of this year’s Penny Readings has now been confirmed as Sunday 5th December at St. George’s Hall, so if you don’t want to miss out on your chance to attend this hugely popular event, get in there now and bid away! You have ten days to bid for February’s tickets. Click here to bid.

For those of you intrigued to know what it’s all about, or for those that attended last year and heard Alexei Sayle, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Roger Phillips and many others and would like to relive some of the highlights, here’s a short video of the Penny Readings 2009 (which is also being shown on the BBC Big Screens in Manchester and Liverpool):

The Penny Readings from Jane Taylor on Vimeo.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WIRRAL!

Friday, March 12th 2010
10.00am to 3.30pm
Birkenhead Town Hall

Volunteering Wirral and the Cascade project are hosting a joint event, to  showcase the skills and talents of Wirral people, to celebrate volunteering and to promote good practice in volunteer management.

The Deputy Mayor Councillor Alan Jennings will perform the opening ceremony which will be followed by a full day of entertainment and displays.

Activities include: belly dancing, cookery, poetry, healthy lifestyles, African drumming, arts and crafts, martial arts, songwriting, Wirral Green Orchestra, workshops stalls and information desks, BBC Radio Merseyside’s A Team and the Up for Arts Project.

Help celebrate what makes Wirral such a wonderful place to live, work and volunteer in and explore one of Wirral’s iconic buildings in its full glory.

For further information call us at Volunteering Wirral on either 0151 647 5432 (Option1), or 644 7577.

Saturday, 20 Feb. 2010 at 4pm
Oxford House, Derby Shire Street, E2 6GH

The Mourning Tree: an autobiography and a memoir of prison, by Mohamed Barud Ali

Kayd Somali Arts and Culture in collaboration with redsea-online.com is proudly inviting you to the presentation of new book: Weerane (The Mourning Tree), autobiography by Mohamed Barud Ali. Join them to discuss this new autobiography with the author and also mark and commemorate with us, the students protest (20 Feb 1982, erupted 28 years ago in Hargeysa) demanding justice and the release of UFFO members.

This prison memoir will not only give first-hand information of the experience of the brutalities of Siyad Barre’s Somalia but also of the life of a nomad child who is brought to the city to live with his aunt because there was no work for him due to the fact that his father did not own any camels to be looked after. In the city while growing up, hunger was never far away. That motivated Mahamed to perform well at school which gave him the opportunity to go to the United Kingdom.  After he earned his university degree, he went back to his home town Hargeysa where he met young professionals’ like him. They decided to volunteer for their community, what became to be known by the international community as Hargeysa Self-help group and locally as UFFO. For their noble acts, Mahamed and his colleagues were imprisoned and what followed were eight long lonely years, where the studying of insects was the main entertainment of the day.  The reasons why they were freed, while at the same time the rest of their community had been destroyed, were as strange and surprising as the reasons why they were jailed in the first place were bizarre. There was no time in Mohamed’s life to get depressed or discouraged when he and his group were freed as the reconstruction of the country had to start immediately.

The other speakers are Jama Musse Jama; director of Red Sea online (publisher of The Mourning Tree), Rashiid Sheikh Abdullahi; Author  and expert on Somali culture,  Martin Hill; the former director of Amnesty International Somalia desk and researcher who was involved in this case, Judith Gardner; author Somalia–the Untold Story: The War through the Eyes of Somali Women, Adan Warsame Said; the author’s friend and fellow prisoner, Fawzia Yousuf H Adam; The Director of Raad, I.M Lewis; Emeritus  professor at The London School of Economics and Political Science (TBC) and others…

The Mourning Tree: an autobiography and a memoir of prison, by Mohamed Barud Ali is the first of “Rag & Dumar” series, which is a selected list of biography books, published and distributed by Ponte Invisibile Ed.

Mahamed Barud Ali is civil right activist, Hero to some, the prisoner of conscience under the brutal regime of Somalia; he lives in Hargeysa, with his wife and children and works on issues relating to human rights and civil liberties.

Join us to discuss this new autobiography with the author and also mark and commemorate with us on Saturday, 20 Feb. 2010, 4pm at Oxford House, Derby Shire Street, E2 6GH. For more information call 07903712949; or email: ayan_mahamoud@kayd.org; website: www.kayd.org