National Reading Group Day 2013

Today is a day for readers all over the UK to celebrate as it is National Reading Group Day 2013. For the third year running, National Reading Group Day is starting Independent Booksellers Week in association with Reading Groups for Everyone and The Booksellers Association, celebrating everything to do with reading groups wherever they take place.

Here at The Reader Organisation, reading groups aren't just for one day but for all year round. Our Get Into Reading groups bring people and great literature together each week across the country, creating profound and often powerful experiences and connections that are shared as stories and poems are read aloud in the room.

We have over 350 groups, reading in environments as varied as schools, day centres, care homes, hospitals, GP surgeries, prisons and secure environments and workplaces. Amongst these, we have a number of open groups based in community settings running weekly in the North West (Liverpool, Wirral and Wigan), the South West (Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset) and boroughs across London.

Our group members have lots to say about what their Get Into Reading group means to them:

“The reading group mends holes in the net you would otherwise fall through.”

"Being part of a group is special – it’s a bit more than just reading a book.  I was never a great reader beforehand, but this group is something that I have become attached to; it means a lot to me to be part of it and it has helped me in my life outside the group as well."

 

"I love the reading group -  it’s done so much for me, it really has. It’s been my salvation."

 

We're celebrating National Reading Group Day today with our weekly Caldies Creatives group for young people aged 8-13 happening today at Calderstones Mansion House, Calderstones Park, from 10-11.30am - we'll be enjoying tons of reading as well as getting crafty. Tons of fun!

 

Don't let the reading stop after today - take a look at the full list of our current open Get Into Reading groups on the Reading With Us section of our website. Come along, share in some great reading and great company.

 

National Reading Group Day also coincides with the beginning of Independent Booksellers Week, running today until 6th July. Once you've done some shared reading, why not visit your local indie bookstore and see what great books they have to offer?