6th November 2008
The Reader Organisation wins the 2008 Quentin Blake Award for 'Play's the Thing'
'Get Into Reading' nominated for an NHS Centre for Involvement award 2008 for Mersey Care Reads project
Finalist for the Art '08 'Inside, Outside and Online Award'
The Reader Organisation launches a Reading Revolution on Friday 7th November
Quentin Blake and the trustees of the Roald Dahl Foundation have awarded the latest Quentin Blake Award to The Reader Organisation. The £2,000 award has been given to deliver 'Play's the Thing', a project that will provide activities - drama workshops, self-defence classes, and sound production lessons, for example - in Birkenhead Park for young people caught up in anti-social behaviour. The aim is to engage these young people in the Wirral Community Shakespeare project and to enable them to see themselves as valued members of a creative community.
'Get Into Reading' group members in Wirral Community Shakespeare's performance of The Winter's Tale (August 2008)
Jane Davis, Director of The Reader Organisation, says, "I'm absolutely delighted that we've won this award. It enables us to engage young people in creative and social activities and uses the park for its intend purpose: enjoyment."
The Reader Organisation has recently learnt that the 'Get Into Reading' Mersey Care NHS Trust reader-in-residence project has been short-listed for an NHS Centre for Involvement award (winner announced 25th November 2008) and that The Reader Organisation has also been declared a finalist for the Art 08 'Inside, Outside and Online Award' for its outreach work (winner announced 13th November 2008).
The Reader Organisation aims to bring about a Reading Revolution, bringing great books into the hands, hearts and minds of people who need them. To celebrate the 2008 National Year of Reading and Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture, The Reader Organisation pioneered a work-based Reader-in-Residence position with Bibby Line Group, Liverpool's oldest surviving shipping company. Bibby Line Group are hosting the launch event for the Reading Revolution at their Liverpool HQ - in the building that once housed Liverpool's first public library - at 4.30pm on Friday 7th November.
Contact Jen Tomkins for further information.
Notes to editors:
- 1. The Reader Organisation was founded by Dr Jane Davis in 1997 as a literary magazine, The Reader (still in publication) with a grant from the School of English at the University of Liverpool. Since then, with the University's support, she has worked to develop innovative projects and events to get books off the shelves and into the hands of more people. The Reader Organisation, which continues to be supported by the University of Liverpool, has grown to become its own stand-alone charity and is dedicated to bringing about a Reading Revolution - this means great books reaching everybody - its mission is to engage people of all ages and backgrounds in sharing a wealth of literature. For The Reader Organisation, reading is a force for social good that can build community and enhance lives.
- 2. The Quentin Blake Award is awarded annually to outstanding projects funded by the Roald Dahl Foundation which Quentin Blake feels touch the lives of children and young people in a special way. It aims to give organisations the opportunity to undertake a special project which in normal circumstances would not be possible. Quentin Blake is one of Britain's best loved and most successful illustrators and children's authors and was Roald Dahl's principal illustrator. He was the first Children's Laureate. A founder trustee of the Roald Dahl Foundation, he is now the Foundation's President. http://www.quentinblake.com/
- 3. The Roald Dahl Foundation is a grant-making trust set up in 1991 in memory of Roald Dahl, to continue to support causes important to him during his lifetime. The Foundation provides practical support for children and young people with brain, blood and literacy problems through its support of hospitals, charities and individual children and their families. There are 35 Roald Dahl nursing posts across the UK caring for children with epilepsy, acquired brain injury, haemophilia, sickle cell or Thalassaemia. Roald Dahl was passionate about reading and a great supporter of work to promote reading and literacy amongst children and young people. The Roald Dahl Foundation, 81a High Street, Great Missenden, Bucks HP16 0AL. Tel 01494 890465 www.roalddahlfoundation.org
- 4. The 'Play's the Thing' project will provide park-based activity for young people who use Birkenhead Park for drinking, drug-taking, vandalism and other anti-social behaviour. Activities will include basic self-defence, first-aid, drama, music, sound production and a Get Into Reading group. Sessions will be informal and ad hoc, and fit with the fluctuating nature of the gang of young people. The Park Pavillion will be used as a base but much activity will take place in the Park itself. Over the course of the first ten weeks it is hoped the team will be able to encourage some of the young people to get involved in Wirral Community Shakespeare which will be auditioning and pulling a crew together in late July 2009. During August the remaining young people will be encouraged to volunteer as stewards and backstage crew. The aim is to engage these young people in the Wirral Community Shakespeare project and to see themselves as valued members of a creative community.
- 5. The 'Get Into Reading' programme was launched in 2001 by The Reader Organisation and now runs over eighty reading groups in locations across Merseyside. 'Get Into Reading' groups meet weekly in libraries and community centres, giving people who might not normally think of joining a reading group a chance to enjoy stories and poems together. As a creative reading initiative, what 'Get Into Reading' does is unusual: books and poems are read aloud, weekly, in real time, by facilitators and group members. Our aim is to improve well-being, extend appreciation of literature and build community, targeting hard-to-reach people across Merseyside. In 2006 Get Into Reading was a finalist in the prestigious NHS Health and Social Care awards.
- 6. Wirral Community Shakespeare is a project that is led by the local community. Members of Get Into Reading groups took part in activities and workshops linked to theatre, performance, creative art design, filming and editing, stewarding and an educational and fun visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Nine members of GIR successfully auditioned for The Winter's Tale and will took part in the performances. A number of organisations have joined the support team including the Aspire Trust, BEANBAG - a children's environmental group and V -Involved a teenage voluntary organisation based at Wirral CVS.
- 7. The University of Liverpool is a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive and widening participation institutions in the UK. It attracts collaborative and contract research commissions from a wide range of national and international organisations valued at more than £108 million annually.
- 8. The National Year of Reading is a year-long celebration of reading, in all its forms. It aims to increase awareness of the many values of reading - anything, anytime, anyplace - for children, families and adult learners alike.
- 9. Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture started in January 2008. The Reader Organisation is helping to deliver the University of Liverpool's 'Shipping Lines: Liverpool Literary Festival' in November 2008 as part of the city's Capital of Culture programme.
- 10. The Reader Organisation is supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Esmee Fairburn Foundation and the University of Liverpool.