Join the Reading Revolution
We’re a national charity that wants to bring 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.
From our global Shared Reading movement, to our Calderstones Park home – The Reader builds lively communities that bring people together and books to life.
Find a group near you-
94%
Felt better after a session
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526
Groups around the UK
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10,000+
Readers a year
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84%
Made new friends
Become a volunteer
Love reading? Love meeting new people? Want to make a difference locally? If so, Shared Reading could be the thing for you. And you could be just the person for us.
The Reader at Calderstones
The Reader at Calderstones is a community unlike any other, somewhere people can get together, experience literature and try something new.
Drop in at the Mansion House to get a bite to eat at The Reader Café, join a Shared Reading group or explore 5,000 years of storytelling in our dedicated exhibition.
Explore the park, where you’ll find the Storybarn play space and The Reader Ice Cream Parlour.
The Mansion House
The Mansion House is a reading home with heart – drop in to discover a place filled with possibilities.
The Calderstones Story
Discover stories of life in Liverpool, starting 5,000 years ago, in our dedicated exhibition.
The Storybarn
Our imaginative play space for children and families will spark a lifelong love of reading for pleasure.
What's on
New Home Tour
Every Tuesday, 3pm - 4pm FreeJoin us at reception and we’ll take you on a marvelous journey through the house, its history and its future.
George Eliot at 200: Reader Day
Saturday 23 November, 10am - 4.30pm £50.00It’s 200 years since Marian Evans was born, daughter of an estate manager, near Nuneaton, in 1819. That midlands country...
Science Fiction
Every Tuesday, 4pm - 5.30pm FreeJoin us weekly as we delve into stories and extracts, past and present found at the very limits of the...
The Storybarn
The Storybarn exists to spark a life-long love of books and reading, and an unending curiosity for exploring the astonishing worlds of our imagination.
Whether you’re coming as family, party or school, this imaginative play space is dedicated to sharing the delights of reading with babies and children.
Come and play!
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8,937
Storyhunter and Incy Wincy Rhymer attendees
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95
Birthday parties
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111
School visits
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23
Family fun days
News
Get Dazzle Gradually, an anthology celebrating 25 years of National Poetry Day, 3 October 2019
It's 25 years since Forward Arts Foundation first set out to make sure we remember poetry is important - and…
The doors are open – check out some of the best bits from the Mansion Housewarming Weekend
A huge thank you to everyone who came down and visited us over our Housewarming Weekend at The Reader at…
New Shared Reading groups launching in Homerton and Clapton, East London
After a decade reading aloud in London, The Reader has arrived in Hackney in a unique Shared Reading collaboration with…
