Our aim is to bring about a Reading Revolution. Why? Because reading matters to everyone.

Our work is driven by the heartfelt belief that ‘literacy’ is not just the ability to read, but the state of being a reader - our Reading Revolution exists to make great books accessible to all.

THE BIRTH OF THE READING REVOLUTION

Get Into Reading's read-aloud and personal response model was born out of Jane Davis's literature teaching at the University of Liverpool.

The Reader Organisation's ethos is that literature is not an aesthetic experience but practical help for being human. Get Into Reading was developed to address the waste of a fabulous resource - 4,000 years of literary heritage - the thing Doris Lessing, in her 2007 Nobel acceptance speech, called “a treasure-house of literature”.

We don't believe that only a tiny minority of the population should be ablet to read George Herbert, or George Eliot, or Shakespeare, or Hardy, or Dante, so we have set out to get books into the hands of people who, we feel, could really benefit from them. That's everyone.

BRINGING ABOUT THE READING REVOLUTION

At the heart of all our work, is shared reading - bringing people together to read.

Get Into Reading is our innovative social outreach project, which delivers over 190 community read aloud weekly reading groups, mainly in Merseyside and increasingly across the UK.

With the development of Read to Lead Training, Get Into Reading is spreading across the UK, with groups in Durham, East Lancashire, Essex, London, Salford and the South West. Groups meet in community centres, libraries, homeless shelters, schools, hospitals, offices, doctors’ surgeries, drug rehab units and care homes to enjoy reading together.

“It’s like a door has opened and the light has come in” GIR member

What’s different about these groups is that the reading is shared: short stories, novels and poems are read aloud by one of our trained facilitators (members can choose to join in, but there’s no pressure to). This provides immediate engagement with the text, which is enriched by the spontaneous sharing of life stories and experiences as confidence builds over time. The groups meet week-in-week-out, providing valuable structure and support. Both of these elements are integral to the success of Get Into Reading.

“I read about other people, but learn about myself.” GIR member

“Before I started this group, I can honestly say I’d only read the stuff on the back of sauce bottles.” GIR member

“Reading aloud, or listening to someone read aloud, is a relationship-building shared experience.” Professor Louis Appleby, NHS Director for Mental Health

Research is a growing area of our work that supports our outreach programmes and helps build a sound basis for our belief that reading can be beneficial for everyone. We are currently working with the Schools of English and Medicine at the University of Liverpool, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool Primary Care Trust and Liverpool City Council to formally to evaluate the increasing anecdotal evidence of its therapeutic efficacy.