My experience so far has been overwhelmingly positive and hugely beneficial to my professional and personal development. Much of this is down to the staff and environment here – the work can be challenging but there is a huge sense of achievement when it is completed successfully and I couldn’t have asked for nicer colleagues.

I have been given a wide range of responsibilities, gained valuable experience in different areas of the organisation, and gained new skills or built on my existing ones.

 (Current intern)

Once again, The Reader Organisation are on the look out for four keen, energetic, graduate-level individuals who want to take on a sixteen-week internship with us in our Head Office in Liverpool. Our internships give you the opportunity to gain practical and stimulating work experience as part of a dymanic and growing charity.

These sixteen-week internships are for 25 hours per week (unpaid, but with travel expenses paid).

• Communications Internship: Events and Publications
  (click here for full details)
• Communications Internship: PR and Publicity
  (click here for full details)
• Management Information Intern
  (click here for full details)
• Arts Administration Intern
  (click here for full details)

Previous interns at The Reader Organisation have gone on to take up posts such as Editor at Vintage books, Marketing Manager at Princes Ltd, Digital Executive at a design company, Marketing Assistant at an architect’s firm, Accountant Graduate Scheme at KPMG, and a variety of positions within The Reader Organisation, including our current Communications Assistant, Research Administration Assistant and Development Manager.

How to apply

Please read the job descriptions (above) in full and complete this application form and return by email to jobs@thereader.org.uk or in post to The Reader Organisation, The Friary Centre, Bute Street, Liverpool L5 3LA.

Deadline for applications is 9am on 13^th February 2012. You will be notified if you are to be called for interview by the end of the day on 15^th February 2012. If you have not heard from us by then, you have been unsuccessful. Volume of applications may make replies to everyone impossible.

Interviews will be held at The Reader Organisation Office on 21^st February 2012.

If you have any queries, please call The Reader Organisation on 0151 207 7207.

From today until 7th February copies of six stories from former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo’s Mudpuddle Farm series will be handed out  free with Happy Meals. Finger puppets of characters from the series will accompany each book to encourage parents to read with and bring the stories to life with their children.

The promotion is being backed by Harper Collins, who publish the Mudpuddle Farm series, and The National Literacy Trust, whose recent research revealed that one in three children in Britain do not own a book. Director Jonathan Douglas said:

We are very supportive of McDonald’s decision to give families access to popular books, as its size and scale will be a huge leap towards encouraging more families to read together.

Having seen for ourselves how valuable just one book can be to children, and having reached so many with Our Read we think that such a promotion is a fantastic way to extend the reach of reading. Given that eight out of ten families with young children visit McDonalds at least once a year, it’s great to know that they’re contributing to getting more children reading.

The book’s editor, Frances Macmillan, tells us on the book’s blog:

The writers are all from very different backgrounds. Some grew up with a multitude and variety of wonderful books within their reach; some had parents who imparted to them a fierce desire for books and for learning; for others, books were hard to come by, or even illicit. But all ten are united here in a passionate belief in the distinctive and irreplaceable pleasures and powers of reading.

In a year of rude awakenings to low levels of literacy and a widespread apathy towards books and reading, this book demands an interruption. Stop What You’re Doing and Read. Read these essays, because they aim to convince you to make reading part of your daily life. Read a novel because it will enable you to travel in time and space, or else quicken your sense of ordinary existence – family tensions, falling in or out of love, growing up or growing old.  Read a poem, because it won’t be as difficult as you think, and it might help you uncover and articulate a thought or a feeling previously buried deep. Read a story, if you’re short on time, because it imposes a unique period of peace and concentration into your busy life. Read out loud, to your children, to a partner, because reading together casts a potent and intimate spell.

The book aims to start people talking and thinking about books, and valuing reading itself in a new way, so we’re starting up a blog as a way of carrying on that conversation. We want to hear from readers – which books or poems do you love? Which book or poem changed the way you see the world? Have you ever found consolation or relief in reading a great book? Do you ever read books or poems aloud? We’ll be recommending great books throughout the year, encouraging debate about the importance of reading and we want to hear from you.

Read more about the book and share your comments on the Stop blog. You can also ask questions, recommend great books and join in the debate.

Help us remind everyone about the transformative power of reading and to build the Reading Revolution even further. Buy your copy now. Stop what you’re doing and read it.

You can follow Jane Davis, Director of The Reader Organsiation, here on Twitter and also over here, on her blog.

All tickets to the hottest public reading event in London town on Sunday 22nd January 2012  have now sold out. Congratulations if you managed to snap up a ticket to what promises to be an amazing show and commisserations if you weren’t able to. We’re delighted that the event has proved so successful in such a short space of time. Dickens would be proud!

The British Library are taking overflow bookings in case of cancellations/no shows, but unfortunately there are no guarantees of a ticket. We’ll see you there!

Salary: £15,000 p.a.

Tenure: One year fixed term

In order to support the continuing growth of The Reader Organisation we are looking for an exceptional individual with great potential, whose role will be to enhance, develop, extend and maintain our key communication tools such as web, printed promotional materials and updates.

The Communications Assistant will work closely with the Communications Manager and other members of the Communications Team to promote positive media coverage, ensure website and social media channels reflect current The Reader Organisation activity and to help plan the promotion of our events and campaigns. As such, you will be involved with writing, editing and overseeing the design of print and online materials such as bulletins, printed materials and the website. You will also provide research and administrative support.

This is a responsible and demanding role which calls for a creative, hardworking, intelligent, experienced, reliable, and flexible person.

Deadline for applications: 5pm, Friday 6th January 2012.

For more information about the job role, the person specification and how to apply, visit our website.

Getting children and young people into reading is a top priority amongst us at The Reader Organisation; we want everyone to discover the joys of books, but it is especially important that children experience the incredible imaginative power of reading in their formative years. We are constantly coming up with new ideas to engage children with literature – this year alone we have given away 50,000 free copies of the exclusive-for-TRO book The Unforgotten Coat written by award-winning children’s author Frank Cottrell Boyce as part of the biggest Our Read ever, as well as running a range of events and workshops alongside to support the shared reading adventure, and on Sunday we held the second Ha’penny Readings – an event full of fun, laughter and wacky entertainment with lots of reading thrown in, designed especially for kids.

But while the statistics do clearly point to a problem, it’s not just to do with the matter of owning books - but instead whether children are motivated to read them once they have them in their hands. There’s certainly no shortage of books available to buy for reasonable prices and many children across the country are in possession of items that cost much more. The real problem that is to be tackled is a lack of reading aspiration.

The various shared reading projects we run with children - the latest currently being developed in schools in Glasgow –  introduce them to the sheer pleasure of books, encouraging their individual passion and enthusiasm for reading to grow and leading them to read more and more often (and perhaps buy a book with their pocket money). Often, it only takes one story being read to a child or one book given as a gift to spark off excitement and a desire for reading that will last a lifetime.

Sue said, “I am so impressed by this very special organisation making a difference to so many people across the UK. My fellow Trustees will work to ensure that the Reader grows in a sustainable way; where every part of the Reader Organisation is supported and strengthened by the roots.”

Sue  is an independent adviser on public policy, with extensive experience in local government, in business and in third sector; including five years as a member of  the the Big Lottery Fund’s England Committee.  Sue brings her knowledge and networks to  the Reader and will be helping us to build and strengthen  partnerships including to extend the The Reader’s contribution to  public and community libraries.

We also welcome Lawrence Holden, a lawyer by profession, who has spent his career on Merseyside with a strong focus of advising and involvement in organisations with civic and educational focus; and Kathy Doran the Chief Executive of NHS Wirral.

May we also, in welcoming Sue, Lawrence, and Kathy, say a very special thank you to Rosemary Hawley as our outgoing Chair for all that she has done in getting The Reader Organisation to where it is today. We are so pleased she has agreed to stay on the Board and that she will continue to contribute from her new home in the SW.

We’re really excited about this new chapter in The Reader’s life and look forward to working with Sue and our trustees in further building the Reading Revolution.