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!

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!

Speaking on the programme, Schools Minister Diana Johnson, agreed that we must encourage more than ‘basic literacy skills’ by reading great books but when questioned about it, was unable to defend the fact that far less literature is being taught in schools. It looks like come 2010, the GCSE syllabus will not contain a separate GCSE in English Literature but that only the combined English Language and Literature qualification will be taught. On one hand, it’s good to keep the two together – this brings advantages for literacy and communication skills but it’s worrying that this may be the only focus and that the depth of feeling and wide range of experiences that reading literature offers, will be lost.

The humanising power of literature should be available to all young people and Michael Rosen commented on the programme that the “low level of expectation in Government” has led to deprived people being given a “deprived curriculum”. If people are only given the minimum, then that’s all that they will be able to achieve – it simply can’t be the case that we can work on a minimum basis. If people don’t come into contact with reading that will enthuse and enlighten them, how can we lift people’s achievements?

Josephine Hart is absolutely right in saying that we need passionate people to enthuse children about reading – that human contact is essential – and that’s why our Get Into Reading project workers are in schools and foster homes, reading with young people one-to-one and in groups, to encourage reading for pleasure. This is one way in which our Reading Revolution is happening – and making a very real difference to the lives of these young people. As Jeremy Irons mentioned on the programme, we need to give people a “rounded experience of the life that’s available to them” and there’s no better way to do this than through the reading of great books.

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Linked to this is Gabriella Gruder-Poni’s essay, ‘Scenes from a PGCE’, which was published in The Reader 35 and is available online here.

I hope I manage to get this post uploaded – I’m in the wilds of the Wirral (I think), where I’ve been sent for a week to learn how to read. Huh? Not quite. I’m here with eighteen other past and present RLF (Royal Literary Fund) fellows to become accredited ‘reading facilitators’. The course, run by The Reading Organisation, aims to create a ‘reading revolution’ in the country, getting everyone – really everyone – reading. We’ve only had the Sunday afternoon session so far, so it’s too early to say how it’s going to go.

Read in full here.

“Emotions make up the richness of human experience and they need to be understood, not lobotomised” Angela Patmore in The Reader 36

* New poetry by John Kinsella and Michael Parker

* New fiction by Vanessa Hemingway, a writer with a very famous grandfather, and a great voice of her own

* Seamus Heaney’s prose poem about Thomas Hardy

* Peter Robinson writes on his poem, ‘Otterspool Prom’, the latest in the series Poet on His Work

* Essays by Angela Patmore on why stress is good for you, and Hans van der Heijden, the architect behind the fabulous redesign of Liverpool’s Bluecoat, on Wittgenstein

* Eric Lomax (The Railway Man) talks to Angela Macmillan

* Blake Morrison, Philip Davis and Josie Billington discuss the importance of reading in groups, the latest contribution to The Reading Revolution series

And much more inside!

Buy your copy online now

One copy not enough? Subscribe here for quarterly Reader goodness.

You can now view online or download for free the previous issue of The Reader ‘Starting the Reading Revolution’. It’s nearly Christmas, you need a treat.

Get Into Reading National Conference
Friday 8th January, 9am – 5pm
Blackburne House, Liverpool, L8 7PE

This conference will be a fantastic opportunity for everyone involved with, or interested in, Get Into Reading, and to share your experiences of the project from within your organisation, area of the country, profession, or personal interest.

Speakers include: Blake Morrison (author and Chair of TRO), Susan Blishen (Mental Health Foundation), Dr David Fearnley (Medical Director and Deputy Chief of Mersey Care NHS Trust) and Dr Jane Davis (Director of TRO).

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*SPECIAL ADDITION*
Friday Night Supper
Friday 8th January 7 –10 pm

Join The Reader Organisation and some of our panellists and writers for a special Friday Night supper which will feature a conversation between TRO Director, Jane Davis and guests, as well as live music. Not to be missed.

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New Beginnings Readers’ Day
Saturday 9th January, 9.30am – 4pm
Blackburne House, Liverpool, L8 7PE

Join Tim Pears, Brian Keenan and Clare Allan and many more in thought-provoking workshops and discussions, on the theme of New Beginnings, for an inspiring day hosted by the BBC’s Roger Phillips.

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Tickets for all events are now on sale!

Book now for the full New Beginnings experience – Conference, Friday Supper and Readers’ Day – for only £100 until the end of November.

For more information about New Beginnings, please email Claire Speer or visit our website.

The Reader Organisation pioneers new approaches to reading, reaching people across the community from children who don’ t attend school to older people with dementia.

We know that reading fiction and poetry is good for us, but just how good? Can reading poetry help people with neurological dysfunctions, can reading Dickens cure depression? Jane has also developed innovative read-aloud and personal response models which are at the heart of these approaches.

Events are from 7pm prompt until 9pm and are held at the Urban Café, Dance City, Temple Street, NE1 4BR.

Further details about Cafe Culture can be found here.

with Jane Davis, Director of The Reader Organisation

25th August, Liverpool

19 Abercromby Square, Liverpool, L69 7ZG

What have I to leave you but the ruins of old courage, and the lore of old gallantry and hope?  

 

If Wordsworth were to be reborn as a twentieth century American, Gilead is the book he would write. Human, humane, real, devout, and connecting the inner spiritual with the outer public life, this moving novel was mentioned by Barack Obama as a favourite.

While you read this, I am imperishable, somehow more alive than I have ever been.

 

Jane Davis is Founder and Director of The Reader Organisation, a charity on a mission to bring about a reading revolution, making the content of great books available to all. Jane’s talent, energy, and belief in the value of reading are an inspiration to all who meet her: don’t miss this chance to experience the power of the reading revolution for yourself!

For more information please contact Casi Dylan, Training Manager, on casidylan@thereader.org.uk or 0151 794 2830.

You can download a booking form here: PDF/ Word.

In issue 34 there is Simon Barnes, the great sports writer for The Times, exploring the kindred stuff of sport and literature:

Sport is not news: it is literature in the raw.

It’s a packed issue, revealing the raw material (that is, the individual) behind finished works of literature.

There’s new poetry from:

• Stanley Middleton
• Julie-ann Rowell
• Christy Ducker
• and David Constantine

Jacob Polley is the latest Poet on His Work, writing about his haunting poem, ‘The Owls’ in a piece called ‘Fistfuls of Fresh Clay’.

This summer (August 6th) would have been Tennyson’s 200th birthday, so look out for celebrations and fresh thinking on the nineteenth-century poet. Plus we launch our series on Get Into Reading: the Reading Revolution.

Literature is personal, it is raw and as Phil Davis says in his editorial:

For The Reader doesn’t really care about too much about genre – hardly gives a damn in fact as to whether it is fiction, or poetry, or essay, or sentences in a letter. Don’t be deceived: our sense of variety is not merely something liberal. It is to do with wanting the life-stuff wherever we can find it and get it.