Day 1: Reading to Live Well

Reading really does make you feel better, especially when it’s shared, and one of the main purposes of Day 1 was to explore this topic with a variety of professionals from public, private, and third sector organisations. Our Get Into Reading groups read aloud together in places ranging from care homes, GP surgeries, libraries, schools, community centres, in-patient mental healthcare settings, and prisons, improving wellbeing and providing stability, support, and a love of literature for their members. The day consisted of a mix of general plenary sessions complemented by breakout sessions focusing on a particular area of The Reader Organisation’s work.

Charlotte, Reader-in-Residence at Liverpool Hope University, highlights one of her top moments:

“‘The Consequences of Reading’, in which TRO Director Jane Davis spoke to Professor Jonathan Rose about his book ‘The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes; was without a doubt one of my favourite parts of the first day of the conference. It was brilliant to see Jane in such enthusiastic conversation with a person who is clearly a personal hero of hers, and whose book has meant so much to her. I thought it was really important that the session felt like a conversation, and was fairly informal, rather than a typical ‘lecture’ or formal Q&A session.

As an English graduate myself, I found it incredibly interesting hearing Jonathan speak about his views on the responsibility of the academic to address the over-theoretical approach to literature in education environments in modern times. He commented that, 50 years ago, English was one of the most popular subjects at university, but that in recent times there has been a significant ‘falling-off’, and that he saw the cause of this to be the de-personalisation of literature, and lack of focus on the role of the reader. I was very interested by Jonathan’s comment that he saw it as his duty to put ‘the reader first and foremost in literary history: they are the one who gives the book individuality and agency – ‘they make it do something.’

Towards the end of the conversation, Jane and Jonathan spoke about the fact that there is not much opportunity given to children in society now to listen to a story over a long period of time. ‘Story times’ in schools tend to focus more on short snatches of reading, in which the child is asked to look for specific things, and feed-back on afterwards. Jonathan commented that he saw it as incredibly important that we don’t necessarily ‘ask for something in return’ when we read to a child – that we should let the story wash over them, and sink-in over time.”

Our twitter hashtag for the Conference, #TRO2012, also prompted an enthusiastic response from the audience:

#TRO2012 if only every GP could see what Dr Iona Heath can see. (@TriciaCanning)

#TRO2012 Inspirational stuff yesterday & such enthusiastic staff, would love to see it rolled out in our organisation (@OT_LisaB)

#TRO2012 CRILS – Entertaining, informing and challenging – the best presentation by academics I have ever seen (@devonbiker)

The knowledge of the speakers and the passion displayed by everyone both on stage and off was truly inspirational. Exhausted, but elated, we geared up for Friday…

Day 2: Living to Read Well

This day was exclusively designed for people who had completed our Read to Lead training and are practising as Shared Reading Facilitators. Day 2 was therefore a combination of practical sessions on reading aloud and choosing material, problem solving and literary masterclasses. Equally valuable was the opportunity to meet and catch-up with other Shared Reading Facilitators from around the UK and beyond, providing encouragement and advice on this challenging but rewarding practice.

Credit Steve Wasserman, http://readmesomethingyoulove.com

Undoubtedly, the highlight of the day for many was Lemn Sissay in conversation with Jane Davis. An advocate for Looked After Children, young people with whom The Reader Organisation also works closely, he was by turns hilarious and heart-breaking, as Michael, our Events and Publications Intern, explains:

“There was a great deal of hype surrounding Lemn Sissay’s conversation with Jane.  An expectant audience had heard a lot about this

c.Helen Kielt

charismatic writer and, I have to say, he didn’t disappoint.  What could be added to Lemn’s already extensive list of job titles (including: poet, playwright, social commentator) is performer. His energy on stage kept us on the edge of our seats, whilst his anecdotes had us laughing and murmuring our agreement in equal amounts.

But what shone through most was Lemn’s passion for children and the effect great literature can have on their minds and their lives. ‘Books open up a free space inside a child’s imagination’, Lemn affirmed.  He listed a number of characters from literature who were orphaned at a young age or who grew up in care – Oliver Twist, Harry Potter, Bruce Wayne, Jane Eyre – and argued that it is these characters that should be utilised more effectively to demonstrate to us all just how significant looked-after children are, and the important part they play in our society.”

Twitter was buzzing in response, once again:

Fabulously moving and funny Lemn Sissay #TRO2012 (@HelenKielt)

#TRO2012 what a day! What a day! What a day! What a day! (@RachelNiblock)

train home from @thereaderorg#TRO2012 conference @britishlibrary – words not enough to voice my awe of the past two days. Amazing people.(@ajeastwood)

The impact the conference had on all of us here at The Reader Organisation itself was phenomenal  – we were intellectually stimulated, re-energised and inspired, and hope you were too. The Twitter hashtag is still live, so please continue to voice your thoughts online @thereaderorg.

There’ll be more on the blog in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, roll on 2013…

Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1; The Young Victoria) will be reading The New Dress by Virginia Woolf,  Sonya Cassidy (star of stage versions of The Lion in Winter and Inherit The Wind) will read an extract from I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and Mathew Horne (Gavin and Stacey) will be reading extracts from Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith.

Stories Before Bedtime, held by the Criterion and in partnership with Vintage Books and The Reader Organisation, is a series of special late-night readings celebrating and championing the love of reading, transporting the audience back to a time when being read to aloud before bed was a fundamental part of life.

Stories Before Bedtime: Summer Time
Friday 1st June 2012, 10.30pm
Criterion Theatre, 218-223 Piccadilly, Piccadilly Circus, London, W1V 9LB

Tickets cost £12.50 (£10 GIR member/concessions) and are available from the Criterion Box Office or online.

The event will be the last chance to catch Colm Tóibín  in Manchester at the ‘In Conversation’ events before he leaves to continue his professorship in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, and will feature the reading of new work by both writers, as well as covering topics of current literary and cultural interest.

Paul Durcan is renowned as both an outspoken critic of his native country, and as a chronicler of its emergence from the repressions of the 1950s to the contradictions of the present day. In 2001 he received a Cholmondeley Award and was the Ireland Professor of Poetry 2004-2007. His latest collection of poetry – his 22nd to date – Praise in Which I Live and Move And Have my Being was published in April 2012 by Harvill Secker.

Colm Tóibín in Conversation with Paul Durcan
Tuesday 8th May 2012, 6.30pm
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Engine House, Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester M1 5BY

Admission is £10/£5 concessions. To book tickets, please visit the Quaytickets website.

This was one of those book purchases that falls into my – or should I say ‘the,’ perhaps others will empathise – ‘I didn’t know anything about it but it just attracted me’ category. Its procurement from an obscure charity shop made my acquisition all the more mysterious, and the subsequent life experience that the book spilled perhaps seemed even more significant as a result of the lack of any prior knowledge  or preconceptions on my part.  I bought it in the summer holiday between the second and third year of my degree studies, one of the slightly unsettling and thrilling periods of time as a student in which I suddenly had bit of space to read what I wanted, and time to do so. My reading habits have always benefitted from a change of scene, and so back at my family home I sped through the pages of Guo’s novel, which tells the story of Zhuang (or ‘Z,’ as she introduces herself to others, anticipating the mispronunciation of her full name) who is sent from China to London by her parents to learn English.

Indeed, the change of scene I was subject to in moving home for the summer is somewhat incomparable to the experience of Z, who is thrust into the bustle and unfamiliarity of the unaccommodating capital city. Z’s narrative voice is a reflection of her own broken English and journey towards fluency, and although this aspect could potentially jar with some readers, for me it only served to make the book all the more compelling. Any novel that breaks away from conventional prose has often already won half the battle in endearing me just through doing so. Remarking upon the complexities of grammar, Z contests that in China, ‘We are bosses of our own language.’ But the narrative that is delivered undeniably presents her as very much in charge of English, too, albeit in a non-standard way. The unconventional word combinations and comments on everything from baked beans to the pub make the book what it is – an original, amusing, bittersweet understanding of the world and a chapter of a life.

At the centre of the novel is what is essentially a love story between Z and an –interestingly – an unnamed man. This is interwoven with snippets of Chinese history and culture, often told through Z’s accounts and recollections of her family and their life. I particularly liked the structure of the novel, with each chapter title an excerpt/definition from Z’s precious Chinese-English dictionary, which the following chapter is linked to in some way. Through this, the novel explores the relationship between rules, ideas and definitions on the one hand, and real life situations on the other, as Z’s perception of the world expands and is challenged. I found it difficult to bear witness to this, fictional though it may be, and not be prompted to re-assess my own perceptions and understanding on some level, too – one of the many powerful things that reading can do.

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, Xiaolu Guo, Chatto and Windus (2007)

Is Middlemarch by George Eliot one of the definitive books all women should have in their personal library?

Whilst taking time to sift through her Tweets last week, Jane found this intriguing list via Gutter Bookshop’s Twitter feed of 100 books to maketh a man: ‘The Essential Man’s Library’ as it is being termed, somewhat open to interpretation.

The question that arises from this list, aside from the debates that could rage over whether the books listed are the definitive ones that address qualities of ‘manliness’ and whether any obvious choice is missing, is what would the list of 100 books to maketh a woman look like? Would it be dominated by female authors, of which there are certainly a few ‘essentials’ that spring to mind - George Eliot, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen… - (interestingly, only four books out of the 100 ‘books for men’ listed were written by a female author) or would strong female characters take precedence? What would be the ‘essential’ life lessons women could take from certain individual books – or are there too many to mention?

We’d love to have your input – leave us a comment here, or tweet us with your choices…

And if you want to be in the loop with all that the director of TRO is up to, why not follow Jane on Twitter directly – or take a look at her newly located blog for lots and lots of interesting reading about reading.

News From Nowhere are holding a special evening event on World Book Night – Monday 23rd April from 6pm-9pm – to allow literature lovers to celebrate the momentous occasion surrounded by tons of books. They’ll have 25 free copies of one of the World Book Night books, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, to give away on the night, as well as a communal book display for readers to show off the books they love, a range of one-minute readings from favourite books, consolation prizes for those who don’t manage to snap up one of the 25 free copies of Good Omens and refreshments for all.

Whether you’re a seasoned booklover or you’ve never been in a bookshop before, this night is for you – you can browse, buy or just soak up the bookish atmosphere. It’s also Shakespeare’s birthday, and we’re sure he could think of no better birthday party than sharing in the joys of books.

World Book Night at News From Nowhere
Monday 23rd April, 6pm-9pm
News from Nowhere Radical & Community Bookshop, 96 Bold St, Liverpool, L1 4HY 0151 708 7270

And make sure you join us right here on the blog on Monday for our own Shakespeare inspired World Book Night celebrations…

On Friday 20th April, the Little Girl Giant will be arriving in Everton Park as part of her journey. To welcome her to the community, and to officially launch the Out of the Blue Festival 2012 programme, West Everton Community Council and Friends of Everton Park will be holding a ‘Picnic in the Park’ at the top of Everton Park. Members of the community and other visitors are invited to sing songs, share stories and have some lunch as the Little Girl has her siesta between 12.30-4pm.

The event will also be the culmination of Get Into Reading’s Titanic memorial celebrations – for the past few weeks, Get Into Reading groups across Liverpool and Wirral have been reading and discussing poems and other pieces inspired by the sinking of the Titanic, sharing memories of the world’s most famous ship. As part of the Sea Odyssey event and Out of the Blue launch, Get Into Reading Liverpool Project Manager Eleanor Stanton will be reading Thomas Hardy’s The Convergence of the Twain at the Park on Friday so to share in the reading, come along for what promises to be a great celebration – and if you can, please wear something blue.

The Lauries Centre, Birkenhead, Merseyside.

Six weeks of stories by great tellers of tales about different kinds of help, Sarah Jewett, Kipling, Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, William Trevor and Graham Swift. The dilemma of caring is that it’s often the helper that becomes dependent. Come and read some stories together, no work needed in advance and copies will be provided.

The six week course starts on Monday 14th May at 10 30am in The Lauries Community Centre in Birkenhead. All funds go to The Reader Organisation, so you’ll also be supporting the organisation - giving help and caring in fact!

The cost of the course starts at £40[full price] and £30 for pensioners or students. Get into Reading members will get a reduced rate of £25, and those on income support £15.

 To book your place, email rachelsalmon@thereader.org.uk or call 0151 650 5466 or 07807 106859.

Throughout April, anyone can submit a line to the poem which starts with the lines ‘Tell me what you’re thinking, tell me what you miss/Tell me what you’re dreaming, tell me what you wish’. The result will be a poem that represents and unites a diverse global literary community, speaking for children across the world who want to belong to the world of words and reading.

To add a line to the poem, visit the LitWorld website - and go here to read the poem so far.

A range of readings and literature themed events will be taking place at the store between 5-8.30pm, with something in store to please readers of all tastes. Local author Maureen Lee will be reading from her upcoming novel Au Revoir Liverpool, as well as answering questions and signing books; a Poetry Showcase featuring John Redmond, Clare Shaw and Deryn Rees-Jones reading some of their work; plus another of the store’s ‘Twisted Tales’ series featuring international horror legend Ramsey Campbell and Richard and Judy Book Club listed debut novelist Alison Littlewood.

For film buffs, there will also be a World Book Night  themed movie quiz, with all questions (and answers) involving books that have been adapted for the big screen.  And the best thing about it is that all the events of the night are absolutely free.

World Book Night at Waterstones: A Free Evening Celebrating the World of Books
23rd April, 5.00-8.30pm
Waterstones Liverpool One
12 College Lane
Liverpool, L1 3DL

For more information on the evening, please call Waterstones Liverpool One on 0151 709 9820 or visit the website.