The Reader

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 'Rain' by Sterling A. Brown . It's read by Evie Loy O'Neill, who leads a Shared Reading group in Richmond upon Thames.

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 Bluejay' by Sara Teasdale. It's read by Julia Youngman from 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

The Reader has been running Shared Reading sessions in criminal justice settings for over two decades. Our Shared Reading groups reach over 650 people per week across 28 prisons and probation settings. The Reader’s work in these settings is delivered by a staff of dedicated Reader Leaders, and until recently that team was led by Kate Bramhall – The Reader Podcast spoke to Kate about how she came to work for The Reader and discover Shared Reading for herself. 

Learn more about The Reader’s work in Criminal Justice settings 

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Denis Benn 

Native Son by Richard Wright 

‘Ulysses’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson 

Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter 

New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver 

The children’s author Flavia Z. Drago visited The Reader at our immersive story space, The Storybarn, to talk about her wonderful picture books which include Gustavo the Shy Ghost and Vlad the Fabulous Vampire. Flavia spoke to The Reader’s Director of Programming, Kara Orford, about what she read as a child growing up in Mexico City, and what inspires her work today. Ideal listening while you prepare for all things witch and ghoul during this week of Hallowe’en! 

Links: 

Flavia Z. Drago 

Flavia Z. Drago c/o Walker Books 

Flavia’s books at Bookshop.org: Vlad, Gustavo and Leila; Monsters Play Counting; Monsters Play Peekaboo 

The Storybarn at Calderstones Mansion House in Liverpool 

Other children’s authors Flavia loves: Isabelle Arsenault; Beatrice Alemagna; Erika Meza; Juan Palomino; Tomi Ungerer 

Buy tickets for the Fangtastic Family Feast 

Hallowe’en at The Reader 

‘The Listeners’ by Walter de la Mare 

Participants in Shared Reading groups say that the experience helps them feel better, lifts their mood, or benefits their mental health. But what about physical problems – can Shared Reading help with them too? The Reader Podcast spoke to Helen Cook, who has been part of a long-running Shared Reading group for people living with chronic pain, to learn what Shared Reading means to her.  

Links: 

More information about chronic pain: Chronic Pain on NHS website; The British Pain Society; charity Pain Concern 

Potiki by Patricia Grace 

More about Shared Reading 

Find a Shared Reading group near you 

What is this thing we call Shared Reading? How does it work? Who is it for? What has changed in over two decades of The Reader’s Shared Reading? To help answer these questions, we spoke to a group of people who have led Shared Reading groups over many years in a variety of settings. Listen in for their honest, thoughtful and moving reflections.

It’s a bumper episode - see below for time stamps to help you navigate it: 

0.00 - 12.22: Introductions to the speakers 

12.23 - 51.07: The nuts and bolts of Shared Reading – how it works 

51.30 - 1.02.00 The rewards of Shared Reading – who it’s for 

1.02.17 - 1.12.22 How Shared Reading has changed (or how it hasn’t) 

Links:

The International Shared Reading Conference at Calderstones

Find out more about Shared Reading

Find a Shared Reading group near you

Become a Reader volunteer

The founder of The Reader, Jane Davis, leads an online Shared Reading group who have met on Zoom every week for over two years to read The Prelude, a long, autobiographical poem by William Wordsworth. In this episode, members of the group explain how they came to be part of this special shared endeavour and what the experience has meant to them. We’ll hear about the early days of The Reader, and gain insight into how Shared Reading can create fellowship, powerful thoughts and feelings, and a shared sense of deeper meaning. 

The Prelude by William Wordsworth (online text) 

The Prelude by William Wordsworth (buy a copy) 

Jane Davis reads Paradise Lost on Substack  

Find a Shared Reading group near you 

The Reader Bookshelf is a carefully curated collection of literature for adults and children, exploring a different theme each year. The Bookshelf includes a diverse range of stories, plays and poems which are shared across our Shared Reading movement. We join a Shared Reading group at Calderstones reading from Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story collection Interpreter of Maladies, a popular choice from last year’s Reader Bookshelf. And The Reader’s Director of Literature, Katie Clark, introduces our new Bookshelf for 2024-25, and this year’s theme of ‘Wonder’. 

The Reader Bookshelf 2024-25 

The Reader Bookshelf at Bookshop.org 

Find a Shared Reading group near you 

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri 

Hill of Doors poetry collection by Robin Robertson 

In this episode we learn about the secret histories of various species of trees from around the world which now, like The Reader, thrive in Calderstones Park in Liverpool. We’ll hear from representatives of Liverpool-based groups Chinese Wellbeing and Japan Society North West about the cultural significance of species such as cherry blossom and pine, and listen to poetry which unlocks the wonder and mystery of these trees. The episode is part of our heritage project, Making Meaning at Calderstones, which is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Reader at Calderstones

Chinese Wellbeing

Japan Society North West

Wendell Berry poetry

170 Chinese Poems, translated by Arthur Waley

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon

The Reader Podcast visits the new Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot in Merseyside to join one of the two Shared Reading groups that take place there every week. We listened in to the group reading an extract from King Lear together, had a tour of the theatre, and Reader Leader Emily Parr told us what Shared Reading brings to this unique community space. 

The Shakespeare North Playhouse 

The history of Shakespeare North Playhouse – an interview with architect Dr Nicholas Helm 

King Lear, Act 3, Scene 2 

‘Invictus’ by William Ernest Henley 

What’s on? Open air theatre at Calderstones this summer