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. 

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!

Running since 1971 (when they were known as the Whitbread Literary Awards), the Costa Book Awards are one of the biggest and most prestigious literary prizes in the UK, recognising a range of the most widely enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. The awards are also unique for being the only literary prize which places an equal emphasis on children’s books alongside adult literature.

The Unforgotten Coat has been nominated in the Children’s Book category. The accolade tops off what has been an amazing year for Our Read, with 50,000 copies of the book captivating hundreds of thousands of children (and adults) across the UK – and beyond (we’ve received postcards from Our Read readers as far afield as Spain, Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria and Hong Kong). The Our Read launch day took a special reading train from Liverpool to London and back (with Frank himself on board) and since then, there’s been tons of other events centered around The Unforgotten Coat. We’d like to offer our congratulations to Frank for this honour and thank him for ‘giving’ the book to Our Read – we couldn’t have done it without him.

The category winners will be announced on 4th January 2012. For more information on the awards, visit the Costa Book Awards website.

Now in its eighth year, The Reader Organisation’s all-singing, all-dancing festive end of year bash welcomes Liverpool-born actor David Morrissey as our star reader:

“I’m delighted to be asked to take part in this very special event in my home town, particularly as it marks the start of the celebrations of Dickens’ bicentenary in 2012. I admire how The Reader Organisation are keeping the spirit of Dickens alive through the Penny Readings in what must be the most accessible and fun literature event of the year.”

The Penny Readings follow in the tradition of Charles Dickens, who from the 1840s onwards, travelled across the North West giving readings for just one penny. This year’s Penny Readings will herald the beginning of Dickens’ bicentennial year with a fantastic ensemble of writers, musicians, magicians and readers, of which David Morrissey will be one.

The Ha’penny Readings, an event just for young people aged 8-16, makes a return for a second year too, held on the same day at 2.30pm With trumpets, Santa, comedy capers with Sticky Floor, selected readings for the festive season and special guest, Tommy Donbavand, author of comedy-horror series, Scream Street, it’s not to be missed.  (All children must be accompanied by an adult.)

Sticky Floor

As tickets are in such high demand for the Penny Readings (last year, the tickets had all gone in an hour), this year there will be a public raffle of 100 pairs of tickets (only one pair of tickets available for each person). There are also 100 pairs of tickets available for the Ha’penny Readings, which will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

To enter, please call the Penny Readings Hotline on 07807 106815 or email pennyreadings@thereader.org.uk, leaving your name and contact details, and specify which event you would like tickets for (the Ha’penny Readings for young people at 2.30pm, or the Penny Readings at 6.30pm). The line is open from 9am Monday 14th November until 5pm Friday 18th November (any calls or emails before or after this time will not be entered into the draw). Roger Phillips will draw the first two winners of Penny Readings tickets live on air between 12.30-1pm on Radio Merseyside on Wednesday 23rd November. All winners will be notified by Friday 25th November.

If you’re lucky enough to get a ticket, entry to the Penny Readings will cost one pence – just as it did in the 1840s. Entry to the Ha’penny readings costs one half penny – tickets are sold in pairs so there’s no need to track down any obsolete coinage!

Our work in furthering shared reading in prisons and within the Criminal Justice system is expanding, continuing to make a significant and valuable contribution to the process of rehabilitation and reduction in offending amongst group members. Those who attend Get Into Reading groups in prisons, probation and community initatives have been unanimous about the many postive effects shared reading has on their lives – with one man saying that Get Into Reading provided him with “a second chance”.

The winners and finalists will be announced on Tuesday, November 1st.

For more information about the awards, visit the Lemos&Crane website.

Our latest round of internships run from November 2011 to March 2012 (nb: the Communications role starts two weeks later) and all roles are based in The Reader Organisation’s HQ at The Friary Centre, Liverpool, L5 3LA. The roles available are:

Arts Administration

Download more information here

Communications

Download more information here

Information Management

Download more information here

Leila Green, past Communications Intern:

“This was an extremely rewarding experience both professionally and personally. I was trusted early with a varied body of roles and responsibilities – from events management, to promotions, to media relations – which not only provided the opportunity to step straight on the learning curve, but also, crucially, the confidence to express myself and trust my judgment(s). The team is warm and welcoming, truly in love with TRO’s drive towards a ‘reading revolution’. It was a great working environment: encouraging creativity and nurturing individuality. Not every intern can say they get out what they put in – and more! By the end of the four months I felt proud of what I’d achieved, and grateful for being part of such an inspiring charity.”

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, Training Administrator and National Development Manager.

How to apply

You can download more information about the specific internships in the list above.

Please 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 Monday 24^th October. You will be notified if you are to be called for interview by the end of the day on Thursday 27^th October. 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 Tuesday 1^st November.

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

In case you were still wondering about which of our three teams won, well that was Jen’s team consisting of Jen, Sophie, Anna and Mike. With what was actually a lightning time of around 100 minutes between them! They came 3rd out of all of the 20 charity teams!

Second place was my team consisting of Me, Beth, Lynn and Michele who came in with a not too shabby time of 107 minutes and finished a respectable 6th in the overall charity team rankings.

And last but certainly not least was Lee’s team, who, due to circumstances beyond their control (they only had three people in their team and thus were not eligible for proper placement) they finished 19th out of 20 teams – even with Dave’s brilliant time of 24 minutes!

So again another great big massive thank you for helping us raise a grand total of £562.50 to go towards our work with looked after children.

Have a great weekend.

• Part-time (2.5 days per week)
• 1 year fixed term contract
  
• £22,000  p.a. pro-rata (includes London weighting)

The Lambeth Project Worker is required to set-up, establish and facilitate weekly shared reading groups in order to promote reading, well-being and good mental health within the London borough of Lambeth. In addition, Project Workers are expected to take an active role and interest in the core business of The Reader Organisation which includes training others in shared reading techniques, communicating the work of The Reader Organisation effectively and fundraising.

The delivery of the reading groups will take place in a variety of settings, including hospitals, GP surgeries, libraries and community spaces. The Project Worker will work closely with the mental health trust and other local health and community organisations.   Client groups include people in hospital, members of the general population who might enjoy shared reading, people who may be socially isolated, and those with a range of physical or mental health problems.

For full details about the job, the person specification and how to apply, visit our website.

This is a dynamic and varied job requiring you to be the on-site lead for an exciting new project TRO is undertaking with Liverpool Hope University.

You will help develop a widespread and deep-rooted culture of reading for pleasure among 500 first year students in the Education Faculty at Liverpool Hope University. You will be managed by TRO’s lead for Children and Young People, Samantha Shipman, and will work alongside the TRO Director, Dr Jane Davis, who will be based at Hope one day each week.

You will be responsible for representing the project to the whole University and for encouraging widespread active participation in the project. You will be outgoing, resilient and enthusiastic and you will have the confidence and enthusiasm to sell the reading for pleasure project readers and non-readers in an academic setting

You will promote, set-up, establish and facilitate weekly read-for-pleasure groups across the faculty, working with students, teaching and ancillary staff, as well as Liverpool hope’s educational partners.

Coordinating and developing Our Read, TRO’s annual shared reading project, at Hope will be an important element in the development of the project, and you will work with student volunteers and Hope’s school partners to extend the current reach of the Our Read.

The work will take place both on campus and extra-murally, in term and during vacations.

Read more information and find out how to apply on our website.