Celebrating the first ever International Shared Reading Conference

‘It has been a wonderful day - great meeting you all! Loved the Shared reading and getting new knowledge. Inspiring and exciting.’  

On Thursday 10 October The Reader hosted its first International Shared Reading Conference at its Headquarters at Calderstones Park in Liverpool. We gathered people in-person from the UK but also Japan, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark – some people were new to Shared Reading and keen to find out more, others were people already connected to the movement, trained by The Reader over the years to deliver our flagship course Read to Lead in their own language and enable people from their own countries to deliver Shared Reading.

The Reader modelled gold standard Shared Reading to new and existing audiences, to give everyone an opportunity to experience the core of the model and reflect on the experience. The conference also featured a diverse suite of six workshops, one designed and delivered by our international partner Dirk Terryn from Het Lezercollectief in Belgium. It was an enriching experience for all as The Reader shared expertise on how Shared Reading works in different settings and our current research on the model.  Dirk's workshop was particularly inspiring, sharing how Shared Reading is working for people living with dementia in Belgium.