Welcome to The Reader Podcast. The Reader is a national charity bringing about a Reading Revolution so that everyone can experience and enjoy great literature, which we believe is a tool for helping humans survive and live well. Through our global Shared Reading movement, powered by 1,000 volunteers and many partnerships, we bring thousands of people together every month through weekly Shared Reading groups. Our podcast is for anyone who loves books and believes they can be powerful tools for change, and wants to hear more of the powerful, personal responses that reading can provide. It will feature great guests, conversations and thoughts about books and reading, and show how reading together improves wellbeing, strengthens communities and sparks the change needed in the world. The Reader is a registered charity and we rely on the generous support of individuals and organisations to help us change lives through Shared Reading around the UK. Please visit www.thereader.org.uk to donate and find out how you can get involved with our work. We are grateful for the kind support of our core funders Arts Council England, National Lottery Community Fund, the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and the Steve Morgan Foundation.
Episodes
Saturday Oct 26, 2024
Flavia Z. Drago
Saturday Oct 26, 2024
Saturday Oct 26, 2024
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 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
Friday Sep 27, 2024
Shared Reading and Chronic Pain
Friday Sep 27, 2024
Friday Sep 27, 2024
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
Find a Shared Reading group near you
Friday Aug 30, 2024
What We Know About Shared Reading
Friday Aug 30, 2024
Friday Aug 30, 2024
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
Friday Jul 26, 2024
'What We Have Loved' - The Wordsworth Shared Reading Group
Friday Jul 26, 2024
Friday Jul 26, 2024
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)
Friday Jun 28, 2024
The Reader Bookshelf
Friday Jun 28, 2024
Friday Jun 28, 2024
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 at Bookshop.org
Find a Shared Reading group near you
Tuesday May 28, 2024
Among the Trees of Calderstones Park
Tuesday May 28, 2024
Tuesday May 28, 2024
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.
170 Chinese Poems, translated by Arthur Waley
The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Shakespeare North Playhouse
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
Tuesday Apr 23, 2024
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
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
The Garden Theatre
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
In this episode we return to The Reader's project uncovering the heritage of Calderstones, our home in Liverpool. We’ll be visiting a very special part of Calderstones - the Garden Theatre, an outdoor stage added to the Mansion House by Liverpool Council in the 1940s. We’ll hear from audience members who have enjoyed shows on this stage, both past and present, and learn why the Garden Theatre’s long association with Shakespeare makes Calderstones the perfect home for The Reader.
With thanks to The Reader’s heritage volunteers, all the local residents who shared their memories with us, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The Reader’s 2024 Summer Season at the Garden Theatre
‘After a Play’ by Elizabeth Jennings, from The Collected Poems (Carcanet)
Monday Mar 18, 2024
The Reader's Storybarn
Monday Mar 18, 2024
Monday Mar 18, 2024
The Storybarn is a one-of-a-kind reading retreat for children and their grown-ups. Little ones can let their imaginations run wild, discovering new stories to share, and taking part in unique experiences, alongside arts and crafts.
In this episode we visit a Tiny Acorns session, a group where parents and carers spend time at The Storybarn with their newborns, picking up handy tips on reading with their little ones and enjoying Shared Reading together. We hear from the parents who attend these groups, as well as the Storybarn staff themselves, who give an insight into how the magic is made.
Thursday Feb 29, 2024
Now We Sit With It
Thursday Feb 29, 2024
Thursday Feb 29, 2024
Episode 17 - Now We Sit With It
The title of this episode is taken from a new painting created for permanent display in Calderstones Mansion House by Liverpool-based artist Sumuyya Khader. The artwork responds to new research by a historian and Reader heritage volunteers into links between the Mansion House, its owners and the transatlantic slave economy. In this episode we speak to Robert, one of the volunteer researchers, and to Sumuyya Khader, to hear about the process of uncovering and responding to this research.
This episode has been funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of ‘Making Meaning at Calderstones’ – The Reader’s two-year project to uncover and celebrate the unique stories of our reading home.
More information about ‘Now We Sit With It’
Calderstones links to transatlantic slavery – what we know (The Reader website)
‘The White Man’s Guilt’ by James Baldwin in Dark Days (Penguin)