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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle–Happy Birthday
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22nd, 1859 and it's been a big week for him. A copy…

Featured Poem: Howard Jacobson surprised by joy in Soho restaurant
Over dinner in a Soho restaurant recently, Jane Davis asked Howard Jacobson to recite a poem. Here's the result. Jane…

Mind and Body Readers’ Day at the Brindley, Saturday 17th May
The Readers' Day held at the Brindley Arts Centre on Saturday was a great success: it seems that guests, organisers…

Jemima Puddle-Duck
Beatrix Potter was always frank about the violence and amorality of the natural world. In the year that Jemima Puddle-Duck…

Literature of Depression
In 2005 Monica Janssens was diagnosed with panic disorder and severe depression and admitted to the Priory Hospital. Monica has…

Readers’ Day at Brindley Arts Centre May 17th, 2008
This coming Saturday (17th May),The Reader Organisation working with the award-winning Brindley Arts Centre in Runcorn, presents another of its highly enjoyable…

The Death of Criticism
Jonathan Gottschall has an article in the Boston Globe which supports my view that academic literary criticism has reached a…

Featured Poem: When We Two Parted
Byron's poem 'When We Two Parted' is one of the most famous of all love poems and probably the greatest…

Coming up in The Reader Magazine, Issue 30
Read more about The Reader issue 30 here. Download a free copy of The Reader issue 29 here. By Philip…

Blake Morrison agrees to be Chair of The Reader Organisation Board
Recently, The Reader Organisation has established itself as a company limited by guarantee and is applying for charitable status. This…

Links We Liked for 7th May, 2008 “Shakespeare Edition”
A couple of weeks ago Jen Tomkins wrote a post about 'dumbing down Shakespeare'. It turned out to be one…

Recommended Reads: Double Indemnity
Steven Powell is writing a PhD dissertation on James Ellroy at the University of Liverpool. Double Indemnity is one of…