Introducing…The Reader Magazine blog!

When you've read your trusty copy of The Reader magazine cover to cover, are you often thirsting for more literary goodness? Perhaps there's a poem, short story or feature article that has got you enthused and you want to say more about it?

Well now you can get even more from between the pages as we're happy to announce that The Reader has gone online with a brand new blog dedicated to bringing readers even closer to quality literature and the wealth of thinking behind it.

Of course you'll still be able to enjoy the pleasures of ink on paper - Issue 54 is hot off the press and physical copies can be ordered from The Reader Organisation's website as well as in a selection of bookshops around the UK, including Waterstones Liverpool One - but now if you've read something that's moved, vexed or roused you or you're simply keen for more of the same, just a few clicks and it will all be at your fingertips.

A spirit of sharing has always been at the heart of The Reader since its first publication in 1997, and the blog gives the perfect opportunity to take that idea further. Online you'll find a range of additional articles and features to enliven the print version of the magazine with further discussion and audio, though it is intended that the content will also stand alone for readers who prefer their reading in pixels.

The Reader blog is already brimming with topical content available for you to read at your leisure, and with a particular focus on the current hot issue of reading in prisons. Author and TRO patron Erwin James's powerful essay detailing the profound effect a book on French artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus had on the state of his mind during his time in prison is available in full - and already gaining a remarkable response from readers online:

@TheErwinJames@thereaderorg An amazing journey of hope, the strength of the human spirit and commitment to personal change.

Following Erwin's story - and the many other stories that say that reading really does make a difference to prisoners - contributors from Issue 54 including Shauneen Lambe, Sean Elliot and Margaret Drabble recommend the books they would give to a friend in prison exclusively for The Reader blog.

The blog is also where we'll be building up an archive of poetry readings, our first additions coming from poet and regular Reader contributor Julie-ann Rowell reading two selections from her work.

So much to get you reading already, all to be found on www.thereadermagazine.co.uk

Don't forget that you can delve into The Reader archives by purchasing your vintage copies from the website, as well as subscribing for your regular dose of Readerly goodness: www.thereader.org.uk/magazine