Suvi: ‘We’ve had really deep conversations about what it entails to leave your home and then grow new roots in a new land’ 

'When one moves to a new city, you search for familiar things to help you adjust and settle. One of the first things I did after moving to London in 2015, from India, was to acquire a library card that gave me access to old and new faces (and by that I mean, books). You may travel far and wide, but the comfort a book can provide is warm, stable and grounding.

In Shepherd’s Bush Library I chanced upon a poster advertising a Shared Reading group. My interest was instantly piqued. To read aloud and reflect over a cuppa - what was not to like? I went along, and as the group was in need of a new leader it wasn’t long before I stepped in to run the group. Since then, The Reader has been a constant in my life for over a decade.

I led the Shepherd’s Bush library group for five years in-person before the pandemic changed things and we went online. It was very diverse group of people – a quintessential London group, I’d say. Each person had their own experience to share, often reflected through what we read together. On any given Wednesday there were usually seven to eight nationalities represented in the group and English was the second language for most.

Though everyone had a different reason for being there, discovering English literature was the common thread that brought us together each week. I would often pick one word from the text we were reading and go around the members asking them to translate it into their language. It really energised the group.

One group member found it difficult to communicate socially because English was not their first language, yet showed up each week because literature bridged those barriers of language and beyond. Another group member was a person with cerebral palsy who came by each week, just to listen, with their carer, who also found reprieve in the literature. Another found Shared Reading to be essential in their road to recovery, to help navigate the darkness of depression. For all those people, for 90 minutes each week they were in a space bereft of judgment, a space to experience thoughts unfold but absorb them at their own pace. Not many shared experiences come close to this.

Later, I joined the staff of The Reader, training new Reader Leaders, co-ordinating London groups and working in the development team to grow Shared Reading around the country. I experienced and ran Shared Reading in many different settings and iterations. Over that time, the group members and my fellow volunteers have continually inspired me to make each session as fulfilling as possible.

As a volunteer, you can receive instant gratification when a group member lets you know how much they enjoyed the session, that it made their day and that they can’t wait for next week. It feels good to be appreciated for volunteering your time, for just being there for the group member who barely leaves the house but makes time to attend your Shared Reading group, rain or shine. For group members, it’s so valuable to know the group is going to be there every week – something stable and consistent. And it’s good to know there’s no script to follow, no one way to feel about the literature you read. The experience doesn’t always have to be a cheerful one – we each have so many emotions, and it’s so important to have somewhere we can release and express them.

One of my favourite Shared Reading memories is the time I brought Wordworth’s I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud, and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29 to an online group of women ESOL learners, logged in from East London. They were all worried whether they would be able to grapple these literary giants, whom they had heard of from other people or through their children. We read slowly, we re-read many times and pieced together meaning, puzzling out the words together and linking them to shared experiences. The sense of achievement, the energy and happiness these ladies felt once they had got to grips with this ‘old’ English poetry will always remain etched in my mind.

In 2022, I started the first bilingual Shared Reading group at The Reader, called Chai at The Reader. Why ‘chai’? Chai means ‘tea’ in Hindi. There is a rich tradition of impassioned conversations over tea (chai pe charcha as it is called in Hindi) in many parts of India. I couldn’t think of a better way of christening this group! It was a literary journey of the Indian subcontinent and its vibrant diaspora through Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi languages.

I wanted to delve into the rich tapestry of voices, stories, and experiences that have shaped — and continue to shape — this dynamic literary landscape. The members were people who perhaps knew a little Urdu or Hindi but wanted to forge a deeper connection to a language that their parents or relatives had spoken, and to their roots. I would find the poems in these original languages for each session and create an English transliteration – many of the members, while they could speak and understand these languages, could not read the scripts, so making the poems available to them in roman script, as well as reading it aloud, helped them access the literature as it was written.

After a short hiatus, I have revived this group in its second iteration. This time, we are reading South Asian literature written in English so that more people can access the group. From classic works to contemporary masterpieces, the group can offer a unique opportunity to understand different perspectives, engage in thoughtful dialogue, and connect with fellow readers passionate about South Asian literature. We mainly read poetry and have had some really deep conversations about what it entails to leave your home and then grow new roots in a new land. From what we have read and explored so far, the human experience tends to transcend borders and doesn’t matter whether you have a connection with the subcontinent or not. And that’s what Shared Reading is all about!

Everyone is welcome, regardless of their familiarity with the region's writing. The group runs every fortnight, and I invite you to join us for a desi cuppa!'