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
Friday Nov 17, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
The Bromley by Bow Centre in London is a unique community centre, charity and community research project that seeks to offer people a wide variety of services based on their individual needs – from medical help, to job support, meeting people or learning a new skill. The centre was a model and inspiration for The Reader’s own headquarters at Calderstones Mansion House in Liverpool. Rob Trimble is a patron of The Reader and was until recently the Chief Executive of Bromley by Bow, and he joins The Reader’s George Hawkins to talk about how we can create spaces for human beings to find meaning, connection and hope.
The Bromley by Bow Centre website
Bromley by Bow featured on ‘The Truth About... Improving Your Mental Health’ on BBC One
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
Thursday Sep 14, 2023
On 14th September 2023 Batsford Books will publish an handsome new anthology, A Poem to Read Aloud Every Day of the Year. This anthology has been compiled by Liz Ison who has volunteered or worked for The Reader for many years, running a variety of Shared Reading groups both in person and online. The Reader’s Director of Literature, Katie Clark, spoke to Liz about her reading life, how that’s been influenced by Shared Reading, and the genesis of this anthology. During their chat they read aloud from the collection and delve into the mysteries and magic of reading aloud.
A Poem to Read Aloud Every Day of the Year at Bookshop.org
Wednesday Apr 05, 2023
Wednesday Apr 05, 2023
Episode 14 – Heritage and Literature
In this episode, staff from The Reader take us on an audio tour of The Reader’s Liverpool home, Calderstones Mansion House in Calderstones Park. We learn a little about the history of the Mansion and the ancient monument that gives the house and park its name, and listen to literature that brings those spaces and their former inhabitants to life.
This episode is the first of several about The Reader’s two-year heritage project, Making Meaning at Calderstones, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, during which we are uncovering and telling the stories of Calderstones as a significant place of meaning-making.
Read more about Calderstones Mansion House
An interactive map of Calderstones Park
Making Meaning at Calderstones: The Reader’s Heritage project
Time Traveller’s Shared Reading group
The Silence Living in Houses by Esther Morgan
‘A Muse in Livery’ by Robert Dodsley
Monday Mar 06, 2023
Monday Mar 06, 2023
Isobel from The Reader meets Neil Griffiths, educational consultant, author and storyteller. Their conversation ranged over Neil’s childhood, growing up with a father who read bedtime stories every night, to his time as a head-teacher working hard to engage parents and teachers, and on to advising governments on education and the importance of reading. What shines through all is Neil’s passionate belief in the benefits of reading aloud to children.
Purchase Issue 76 of The Reader magazine from our online shop
The Reader’s interactive story space in Liverpool
Collected Poems by Elizabeth Jennings
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
Tuesday Dec 13, 2022
This episode will be released on 13th December, which is celebrated by some as St Lucy’s Day, a festival of light. On our ‘Light and Darkness’-themed Reader bookshelf this year is Katherine May’s Wintering, a compassionate, curious, wide-ranging book which describes a phase of life that comes to us all at some point, and shows what respite and renewal can be found even through the darkest times. Katherine May was our guest at Gravity festival in October, speaking to Melissa Chapple and Philip Davis about Wintering, and also about her first book, The Electricity of Every Living Thing. We also hear how Wintering resonated with audience members at Gravity, and listen to the John Donne poem ‘A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy’s Day’.
The Reader ‘Bookshelf in a Box’ - Wintering edition
More about Katherine May and her books
Melissa’s research paper on reading and autism
Wednesday Nov 30, 2022
Wednesday Nov 30, 2022
**This episode contains explicit language (swearing) and discussion of suicide throughout which some listeners may find distressing.**
In this episode we’ll hear from two events at Gravity and two different guests linked by their experiences of being on the frontline in responding to fellow humans in moments of crisis.
Tony Schumacher grew up in Huyton in Liverpool, and was a police officer for over a decade before the pressure of the job caused his mental health to fray. He eventually left the force and began writing, which he credits with saving his life. After publishing several novels, Tony wrote a TV script drawing on his experiences in the police, which became ‘The Responder’, a unique, uncompromising major drama series which aired on BBC1 in January 2022. Tony came to Gravity and discussed ‘The Responder’ and his life and career with Greg Jenkins, Young Person’s Mentor at The Reader.
Chris Dowrick is a professor of primary medical care at the University of Liverpool and a practising GP. Chris is the author of the well-known book Beyond Depression, and, more recently, of Reading to Stay Alive: Tolstoy, Hopkins and the Dilemma of Existence. This book draws on case histories of Chris’ patients, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, and poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins to speak powerfully about moments of crisis and desperation. Chris talked via video link at Gravity festival to Philip Davis, Emeritus Professor of English literature at the University of Liverpool.
The Responder on BBC iPlayer
Greg Jenkins on The Reader Podcast (Episode 8)
Reading to Stay Alive: Tolstoy, Hopkins and the Dilemma of Existence, published by Anthem Press
Reading for Life by Philip Davis
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
‘No worst, there is none’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Wednesday Nov 23, 2022
Wednesday Nov 23, 2022
The author and screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce has been a patron and supporter of The Reader for over a decade. During the summer, after his first post-Covid tour of schools around the UK to talk about his new children’s book, Noah’s Gold, Frank met with Jane Davis, Founder and Director of Literature at The Reader, to talk about the huge differences he saw in the children he met. When Frank came to Gravity, he continued to draw attention to the effects of the Covid lockdowns on children, and spoke with fellow author Lissa Evans, and The Reader’s Head of Children and Young People Kara Orford, about how books can help children cope with change by giving them the apparatus for happiness.
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
‘Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it's much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world!’ Neil Gaiman
If you need inspiration for the perfect bookish gift for a particular person, give this episode a listen. Whether it’s for someone who loves the great outdoors, or for someone who has cared for you this year, or for some bright spark who is always making, doing and creating – Reader staff have recommendations of great books to suit them all. We also have recommendations from the Founder/Director of The Reader, Jane Davis, and from the writer and critic Tomiwa Owolade, who we’ll be hearing from again in a future episode of this podcast. And if you listen right to the end, there’s a festive poem for you.
Merry Christmas to one and all!
Christmas Gift Guide 1: For the person who finds respite in nature
Christmas Gift Guide 2: For the busy person who needs 15 minutes of calm
Christmas Gift Guide 3: For the person who stands by when things get tough
Christmas Gift Guide 4: For the person who teaches, encourages and tries to lead the way
Christmas Gift Guide 5: For the person who writes, creates, experiments, and thinks differently
Buy the books from The Reader Shop at Bookshop.org.
More gift ideas from The Reader
The Reader magazine subscription offer
Read some of Tomiwa Owolade’s articles on Unherd.com
Monday Nov 08, 2021
Monday Nov 08, 2021
When our Young Person’s Mentor Greg spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live on 30 September about Shared Reading, many listeners wrote in to say it was the most inspiring thing they’d ever heard on the radio. We caught up with Greg for an extended conversation about his role at The Reader and to hear more about how Shared Reading fits into this and into Greg’s own story so far. We’ll also hear from another Reader staff member, Sue, who reads a poem by Wordsworth and talks about the powerful and unexpected sense of calm that this old poem can create in her groups.
The Reader on BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live Word Matters project
Young Person’s Mentoring Scheme at The Reader
‘Love After Love’ by Derek Walcott from The Poetry of Derek Walcott 1948-2013 published by Faber & Faber. We have applied for permission of the publishers FSG to read this poem here.
‘Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’ by William Wordsworth
‘Spiderweb’ by Kay Ryan Kay Ryan's poem 'Spiderweb' is from her collection Odd Blocks: New & Selected Poems published by Carcanet. We are grateful for the kind permission of the publishers to read it here.