The Reader (The Reader)

Today's poem is 'Ring Out, Wild Bells' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It's read by Chris Lynn from The Reader.

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

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 

What's on at Calderstones 

The History of Calderstones 

The Handlebards 

‘After a Play’ by Elizabeth Jennings, from The Collected Poems (Carcanet) 

Today's poem is 'A January Dandelion' by George Marion McClellan. It's read by Alex McCarten from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'A Little More' by Elizabeth Jennings. It's read by Lisa Spurgin from The Reader.

From 'Collected Poems' by Elizabeth Jennings (Carcanet, 2002) Permission requested.

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

Today's poem is 'Frost at Midnight' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It's read by Sami Wilson from The Reader.

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

The A Little, Aloud series

The Reader website

Liz Ison on Instagram

‘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 

‘For Maia’ by Gary Johnson 

Today's poem is 'Winter Days' by Gareth Owen. It's read by Carole Simms from The Reader.

From 'Collected Poems' by Gareth Owen (Macmillan, 2000) Permission requested.

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

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. 

Neil Griffith’s website 

Purchase Issue 76 of The Reader magazine from our online shop 

The Reader’s interactive story space in Liverpool 

Collected Poems by Elizabeth Jennings 

Today's poem is Sonnet 97 by William Shakespeare. It's read by Peter Doran from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'A Winter's Night' by William Barnes. It's read by Frances Macmillan from The Reader.

Today's poem is 'It Sifts from Leaden Sieves' by Emily Dickinson. It's read by Eve Fineburg.

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

Over the years, staff and volunteers at The Reader have learned that there are five essential values or behaviours that are key to a great Shared Reading experience and one of them is: be kind. The Reader relies on the kindness of authors, who volunteer their time and allow us to use their work; we rely on the kindness of those who begin as strangers and become volunteers running Shared Reading groups around the country; and we rely on the belief that all of us, however different, can tap into a shared humanity through reading together. In this episode, we hear from two authors who have been great supporters of The Reader’s work: Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Joanne Harris. Frank reads his ‘Eulogy for the Lost’, broadcast by Culture Liverpool and BBC Radio Merseyside in March to mark a year since the start of lockdown. Joanne Harris speaks about her novel Orfeia, about grief, loss and the power of stories, and we listen in to a National Prison Radio Shared Reading discussion of one particular story by Joanne, ‘Tea With the Birds’, in which an encounter between two strangers proves transformative. 

Liverpool Together: Reflecting on a year of lockdown at the Culture Liverpool website 

Frank Cottrell-Boyce on Instagram 

Orfeia by Joanne Harris 

Jigs and Reels - short stories by Joanne Harris 

Listen to more episodes of The Reader on National Prison Radio 

Find out more about The Reader – donate, get involved, join a Shared Reading Group 

Today's poem is 'A Song for New Year's Eve' by William Cullen Bryant. It's read by Jemma Guerrier from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'Christmas Light' by May Sarton. It's read by Kara Orford from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'A Fallow Deer at the Lonely House' by Thomas Hardy. It's read by Jess Harrison from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is from 'In Memoriam' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It's read by Frances Macmillan from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'After Rain' by Edward Thomas. It's read by Abi Blackburn from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'Rima 23' by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer. It's read by Jess Alvarez from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'Ice Storm' by Robert Hayden. It's read by Jane Davis from The Reader.

From 'Collected Poems' by Robert Hayden (Norton, 2013). Permission requested.

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

Merry Christmas!

Today's poem is 'Winter Stars' by Sara Teasdale. It's read by Sami Wilson from The Reader.

Today's poem is 'A Winter's Tale' by D.H. Lawrence. It's read by Julia Youngman from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'I Heard a Bird Sing' by Oliver Herford. It's read by Linda Flynn from The Reader.

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

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 

The Reader website 

‘Not Love Perhaps’ by A.S.J. Tessimond 

What makes a poem great for Shared Reading? This episode takes a deep dive into a single poem, a sonnet by William Shakespeare, and tells stories from Shared Reading groups over the years who have read this old poem together and found that it moved them in unexpected ways. There’s an interview with Philip Davis who has witnessed and written about Shared Reading experiences of this sonnet, and there’s an extract from another National Prison Radio programme where Shaun, from The Reader, read Sonnet 29.  

RELATED LINKS: 

Reading by Philip Davis and Fiona Magee is a recent book exploring how and why literature can improve mental health 

Listen to more episodes of The Reader on National Prison Radio

Watch short films about Shared Reading 

Maya Angelou speaks about Sonnet 29 in a 1994 episode of BBC2’s The Late Show (@ 21.15mins). 

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.

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

Today's poem is 'After the Winter' by Claude McKay. It's read by Nicola Williams from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'The Shortest Day' by Susan Cooper. It's read by Jan Heron from The Reader.

'The Shortest Day' is published as a picture book, illustrated by Carson Ellis, by Walker Books (2020).

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

The Reader dips its toes into the pool of podcasting, aiming to bring you a regular taste of what our Reading Revolution is all about.

The Reader brings thousands of people together every week to read aloud from books and poems and talk about the shared experience of reading. Our first episode will give you a taste of Shared Reading as we listen in (thanks to National Prison Radio) to a small group read a short story about a dolls house. Elsewhere, the Founder/Director of The Reader, Jane Davis, tells the deputy literary editor of The Times that he’s a very odd man. And Reader staff share their literary earworms – the lines of poems or stories that accompany them as they go about their lives.

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.

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 

Today's poem is 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by Robert Frost. It's read by Mary Crotty from The Reader.

From 'The Collected Poems' by Robert Frost (Vintage Classics, 2013). Permission requested.

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

Today's poem is an extract from 'The Prelude' by William Wordsworth. It's read by Andrew Forster from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'Holly' by Seamus Heaney. It's read by Kath Dodd from The Reader.

From New Selected Poems 1967-1997 by Seamus Heaney (Faber,2014). Permission requested.

Today's poem is 'Winter Trees' by William Carlos Williams. It's read by George Hawkins from The Reader.

From 'The Collected Poems Vol.1: 1909-1939' by William Carlos Williams (Carcanet, 2018). Permission requested.

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) 

Sumuyya Khader 

‘The White Man’s Guilt’ by James Baldwin in Dark Days (Penguin) 

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 

Collected Poems: Anne Ridler 

‘A Muse in Livery’ by Robert Dodsley 

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot 

Photo of a Calder Stone 

The Collected Poems of George Mackay Brown 

Today's poem is 'The Faint Shadow of the Morning Moon' by Yone Noguchi. It's read by Sophie Envis from The Reader.

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

This episode is part of the launch of The Reader’s 2021 ‘Bookshelf’ - a constellation of reading matter which will shape our programming, partnerships and Shared Reading this year. We look at two of the pieces of literature from the Bookshelf - ‘The Promise’, a picture book by Nicola Davies, and ‘The Sycamore’, a poem by Wendell Berry. Both the book and poem make us look afresh at our relationship with the natural world, and the potential power and promise of this is brought out in an interview between author Nicola Davies and The Reader’s Kara Orford, and the words of Shared Reading group member Patricia. We also hear from Clare Ellis from The Reader, who sets the mood with a few lines from Philip Larkin’s poem The Trees. 

RELATED LINKS: 

Walking the Earth – find out more about The Reader’s Bookshelf for 2021-22 

Find out more about The Reader – donate, get involved, join a Shared Reading Group 

‘The Trees’ by Philip Larkin 

The Promise by Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin  

Find out more about the short animated film of The Promise, directed and produced by Chi Thai. 

The Peace of Wild Things - selected poems, including ‘The Sycamore’, by Wendell Berry 

What makes a poem great for Shared Reading? Again, we take a closer look at a single poem, this time Cecil Day Lewis’ ‘Walking Away’, and hear stories about how it what this poem has meant to group members who have read it together in a Shared Reading setting. 

Walking Away 

By Cecil Day-Lewis 

For Sean 

It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day – 

A sunny day with the leaves just turning, 

The touch-lines new-ruled – since I watched you play 

Your first game of football, then, like a satellite 

Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away 

Behind a scatter of boys. I can see 

You walking away from me towards the school 

With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free 

Into a wilderness, the gait of one 

Who finds no path where the path should be. 

The hesitant figure, eddying away 

Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem, 

Has something I never quite grasp to convey 

About nature’s give-and-take – the small, the scorching 

Ordeals which fire one’s irresolute clay. 

I have had worse partings, but none that so 

Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly 

Saying what God alone could perfectly show – 

How selfhood begins with a walking away, 

And love is proved in the letting go. 

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, it might help to talk about it. A Samaritan is ready to listen, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call Samaritans free on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org.  

The Reader Bookshelf 

Find out more about Cecil Day Lewis at the Poetry Foundation 

Find out more about The Reader – donate,get involved,join a Shared Reading Group 

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 

The Reader ‘Bookshelf in a Box’ - Wintering edition 

More about Katherine May and her books 

Melissa Chapple on Twitter 

Melissa’s research paper on reading and autism 

Philip Davis’s book Reading for Life on Bookshop.org. 

‘A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy’s Day’ by John Donne 

**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. 

Tony Schumacher 

The Responder on BBC iPlayer 

Greg Jenkins on The Reader Podcast (Episode 8) 

Chris Dowrick 

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 

‘The Journey’ by Edward Field 

The title of this episode comes from a poem by award-winning poet, short-story writer, essayist and novelist Kei Miller. Kei was The Reader’s guest at an online event earlier this year to celebrate Sefton’s year as Liverpool’s Borough of Culture, when he read poems from his 2014 collection The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to Zion, and spoke about the inspiration for this collection and his wide-ranging work. You can hear part of the recording of that event in this episode, as well as listening to Erin from The Reader sharing another ‘tried and tested’ poem, ‘Interludes’ by Debjani Chatterjee. Both Kei Miller’s poems and ‘Interludes’ are included on The Reader’s ‘Walking the Earth’ Bookshelf and they allow us to explore ideas of how we use language and poetry to understand landscapes both around and within us. 

The Reader Bookshelf 

The Reader magazine, Issue 71 – featuring an interview with Dr Iona Heath 

Kei Miller’s author page on the Carcanet Press website 

Kei Miller’s new essay collection, Things I Have Withheld, at Bookshop.org 

Debjani Chatterjee’s author page on the Royal Literary Fund website 

‘Ulysses’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson 

Find out more about The Reader – donate,get involved, join a Shared Reading Group 

Today's poem is 'Snow' by Gillian Clarke. It's read by Sean Perry from The Reader.

From 'Collected Poems' by Gillian Clarke (Carcanet, 1997). Permission requested.

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

The Reader Podcast is back after an extended break with an episode about being bold, taking risks and keeping an eye out for the unexpected.  Gill Smith worked at The Reader’s Storybarn, our interactive play space for children and young people, when it opened in 2016. Since then, Gill’s gone on to enjoy success as an illustrator – her first collaboration, a picture book of Victoria Hislop’s Maria’s Island, was released in June. Gill chatted with Annie from The Reader about reading, where she finds inspiration, and she shared some valuable advice for budding creatives out there.  

Maria’s Island by Victoria Hislop, illustrated by Gill Smith, is available now from Walker Books.  

We’ve been busy over the summer producing The Reader magazine and a new anthology for National Poetry Day, The Road Not Taken. 

‘What If This Road’ by Sheenagh Pugh With thanks to Seren Books for permission to use the poem here and in the anthology The Road Not Taken. 

Read the rest of the short story ‘The Lumber Room’ by Saki here. 

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. 

Today's poem is 'The Old Year' by John Clare. It's read by Jamie Barton from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'Under This Sky' by Zia Hyder translated from Bengali by Bhabani Sengupta and Naomi Shihab Nye. It's read by Rachael Elliott from The Reader.

From 'Under This Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World' ed.Naomi Shihab Nye. Production by Chris Lynn. Music by Chris Lynn & Frank Johnson

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. 

Frank Cottrell-Boyce 

Gravity Festival 

Frank’s editorial for Books for Keeps online magazine 

Lissa Evans 

The Reader magazine 

Selected Poems by U.A. Fanthorpe 

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 

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. 

Visit the Storybarn page on our website 

'When Giving is All We Have' by Alberto Rios

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 

Today's poem is 'Snow in the Suburbs' by Thomas Hardy. It's read by Sue Highfield from The Reader.

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

Today's poem is 'Bleak Weather' by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. It's read by Jen Jarman from The Reader.

www.thereader.org.uk

Today's poem is 'The Burning of the Leaves' by Laurence Binyon. It's read by Clare Ellis from The Reader.