Internships at The Reader Organisation cover a wide-range of engaging and exciting activities, all of which will play a significant role in helping us to grow in the coming months. Our latest round of internships are open for application now, and we’re on the look-out for five keen, energetic graduate-level individuals to join us at our Head Office in Liverpool for a four-month internship.

These internships will last for sixteen weeks, for a total of 21/25 hours per week (unpaid, but with travel expenses paid). Current roles are:

• Communications: Events and Publications Internship (download Job Description)
• Communications: PR and Publicity Internship (download Job Description)
• Arts Adminstration Internship (download Job Description)
• Business Support Internship (download Job Description)
• Organisational Development Internship (download Job Description)

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 complete the required 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 all applications is Friday 1st June at midday. You will be notified if you are to be called for interview by the end of the day on Wednesday 6th June. 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 Head Office at The Friary Centre, Bute Street, Liverpool on Thursday 7th June 2012.

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

DAY ONE: Reading to Live Well

Thursday 17^th May, 9am – 5pm
£199 day delegate rate

Our keynote speakers have been confirmed:

• Dr Iona Heath, President of the Royal College of General Practitioners
• Jonathan Rose, Professor of History at Drew University (New Jersey, USA), internationally acclaimed specialist on the history of the book and reading

New to our work? Then this, the first day of our conference is for you: an information day aimed at commissioners, funders, potential partners and individuals who want to learn more about The Reader Organisation’s pioneering work improving the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities by reading aloud together. Impacts of our ‘Get Into Reading’ project include: increased personal confidence and reduced social isolation; improved mental well-being; enhanced emotional and psychological well-being, and a love of literature.

Tickets go on sale on Monday 12th March. Details will be available on our website. To register your interest now please email us with the words ‘Conference 2012′ in the subject box: info@thereader.org.uk

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More details about the speakers and programme for Day Two (Friday 18th May), ‘Living to Read Well’, which is for TRO trained facilitators only, will be announced here and on our website very soon. Tickets will also be available to buy from 12th March, and will cost £99. 

In the article, Jeanette suggests that we take a leaf out of the book of the organisers of the growing worldwide movement Occupy by reclaiming Valentine’s Day from its increasing commercialised and money-driven purposes and instead remember the reason behind it: love in all its forms, something that is not a commodity but instead an ‘alternative currency’ for everyone to enjoy.

This is the day to recognise love in every shape and size and disguise. Known love, new love, love’s ghosts, love’s hopes. Loss is here too, and the spaces in between love.

Reclaiming love is the best thing we can do. Love has been squatted for too long by those false cupids with their “for sale” signs. It’s not a coincidence that Venus is the goddess of love and money. Or that her fat friend with the arrows lends his name to desire of both kinds. Cupidity is the all-consuming longing for riches. Love and money are both an exchange.

Wise words indeed – and we’d also point out that reading is the perfect exchange, of love, friendship, community, so why not read something lovely with someone you love this Valentine’s Day? We could think of few better ways to reclaim love for its original purposes.

Jeanette will be appearing with director of The Reader Organisation Jane Davis at an event at this year’s LSE Space for Thought Literary Festival at the London School of Economics and Political Science on Wednesday 29th February 2012, 4.30-6pm. ‘The Medicine Chest of the Soul: Arts and Health’ will explore the substantial role the arts can play in improving health and wellbeing, especially the healing power of literature.

Director of the Rayne Foundation Tim Joss will be chairing the discussion and alongside contributions from Jane and Jeanette, other featured speakers are David McDaid, LSE senior research fellow in Health and Social Care and Margaret Perkins, research officer within the Personal Social Services Research Unit at LSE.

The event is part of the 4th annual Space for Thought Festival, this year with the theme of ‘Relating Cultures’. The festival runs from Wednesday 29th February-Saturday 3rd March and has a very varied programme featuring a range of star speakers including London Penny Readings guest AS Byatt, Claire Tomalin and Michael Rosen.

‘The Medicine Chest of the Soul: Arts and Health’ event is now fully booked, but check the LSE website for details on possible returns or changes or consider going to the venue on the day in case of last-minute empty seats.

Niall, Zoe, Mark Thomas from the Liverpool Post and Donna from WECC celebrate The Reader Organisation's Social Enterprise Mark award

Gaining the Social Enterprise Mark shows the world that our work is driven by an aim to positively impact people and the communities in which they live in on a day-to-day basis. Get Into Reading is continuously making that strong  and noticeable social benefit felt across Merseyside, providing group members with outcomes such as increased general positivity about life, a better understanding of those around them and enhanced social interaction – recent evalution showed that 95% of people enjoyed having the opportunity to meet people they wouldn’t usually meet in day-to-day life by attending a weekly reading group.

We were joined in our headquarters at West Everton Community Council to celebrate receiving the prestigious award by Mark Thomas, Editor of The Liverpool Post, and Donna Ellison, a WECC volunteer. Being officially recognised as a Social Enterprise will allow us to increase our activity in the local community, connecting more people with reading and meaningful social activity.

Zoe Gilling, The Reader Organisation’s Business Manager said:

“We’re really proud to have been awarded the Social Enterprise Mark. It’s really important to us that we are able to generate trading income to reinvest directly into the local communities where Get into Reading began, is growing, and is needed most.”

The Reader Organisation joins other ethical businesses that have been recognised by being awarded the Mark such as Age UK, Blackburne House and the Big Issue.

Lucy Findlay, Managing Director of the Social Enterprise Mark Company said:

“We are delighted to award the prestigious Social Enterprise Mark to The Reader Organisation. Social enterprises come in all shapes and forms so it’s great to see vital, local charities understanding the importance of being part of the wider social enterprise movement.”

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.