Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is an extract from 'What Christmas Is, As We Grow Older' by Charles Dickens. It's read by Jen Jarman, who works for The Reader.

Dickens at Christmas at Bookshop.org

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is the poem 'Snowdrops' by Louise Glück. It's read by Angela Macmillan, the editor of The Reader anthologies A Little, Aloud, A Little, Aloud for Children and A Little, Aloud with Love.

A Little, Aloud at Bookshop.org

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is the poem 'Ode to Winter' by Gillian Clarke. It's read by Georgia Barrow, who works for The Reader.

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is an extract from the novel The Mouse & His Child by Russell Hoban. It's read by Clare Ellis, who works for The Reader.

The Mouse & His Child at Bookshop.org

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is an extract from the poem 'The House of Falling Leaves' by William Stanley Braithwaite. It's read by Jen Chapman, who works for The Reader.

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is an extract from the story 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle' by Arthur Conan Doyle. It's read by Varinder Khanna, who leads a Shared Reading group in London.

Full story at Project Gutenberg

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is Six Winter Haiku by Bashō, translated from the Japanese by Robert Hass. They are read by Kara Orford, who works for The Reader.

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is an extract from Kilvert's Diary. It's read by Anna McCracken, who works for The Reader.

Kilvert's Diary at Bookshop.org

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders

Today's reading is the poem 'One Evening' by William Stafford . It's read by Sam Owen who works for The Reader.

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

Welcome to our Festive Calendar, a special series of The Reader Podcast. Every day this December we will share with you a seasonal poem or a short extract from a novel or story, read by one of our staff or volunteer Reader Leaders.

Today's reading is the poem 'A Winter's Day' by Paul Laurence Dunbar. It's read by Erin Carlstrom who works for The Reader.

Support our Christmas Appeal and make a difference to the lives of people living with dementia. Please give what you can at www.thereader.org.uk  

Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson