Try Reading and more

 

Manchester Literature Festival, which I am lucky enough to be able to attend, has been and gone. This year I managed to enjoy hearing live writers Patrick Ness and Louise Doughty, learned more about dead writers Barbara Pym and F.Scott Fitzgerald and at long last did a literary walk round Manchester.  One aspect of the festival I really like is the organised way in which a team of volunteers  is tasked with writing blogs from all the high-profile events. So even if you can’t attend in person, and it would be impossible for a working person to attend them all, you can still  get a flavour of most of the events from someone who was there and paying attention.

The highlight event for me, of course, was the Passion for Sport event with Owen Sheers and Ian McMillan, both engaging writers and performers. The writers’ informed expositions revealed  sportsmen and team supporters as fragile and anxious, in stark contrast to the way in which they often appear on television or in press reports. The event was chaired by a BBC sports reporter Karthi Gnanasegaram, who said more than once that she wasn’t used to working with creative writers. I’m sure she will have found that this event revealed a lot more about sport than some more traditional book signing events. You can read the blog post from the event here.

Passion for Sport was a partnership event between MLF and Try Reading, our libraries project linked to the Rugby League World Cup 2013. As I write this, we are anticipating the opening event of the tournament tomorrow. I have been shocked this week by how little attention has been paid to this World Cup tournament by the papers or TV that I see. This lack of profile is something that Tom Palmer has also been commenting on, in his blog posts for the Try Reading project. Perhaps something will happen over the course of the tournament to get the eyes of the media focused on it. Its spread over a month so there should be plenty of opportunity.

This morning I attended the launch of the first Rochdale Literature & Ideas Festival taking place in the new Council Building  & Library in the centre of town. The festival has been carefully timed to take place over the weekend before the town hosts its own RLWC match on Monday between Fiji and Ireland, so that there is a real air of excitement in the town. Festival organisers have put together a varied programme for all ages, which includes visits by 2 outstanding poets, Simon Armitage and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy,  as well as other creative writers and performers. I hope the people of Rochdale turn out for all of them.

Finally, next week (October 31st) sees the end of our Reading Rewards challenge , so I hope that completed entry forms are flooding into libraries now. Once the closing date has passed, library staff will need to gather all the entries in from all their service points, before picking out their winners for a £50 prize (1 per library authority). We really have a target for entries this year and want to be able top show that it has encouraged people to read more and more widely. There is still time to enter and if you don’t have a form, please enter on line here

4 weeks to go- the final countdown

Now October has arrived we really are in the final countdown to the end of the Reading Rewards challenge for this year. It’s a very strange time  for me. I created and despatched all the print for Reading Rewards to my library colleagues across the region. It is their task to distribute it locally and to try and encourage readers to take part. Many staff work very hard to talk up the challenge with their colleagues and at all sorts of events at which potential participants are present.

I, however, have no real clue as to how successful all this effort has been until the closing date has passed and the numbers have been counted, so I was really cheered this week, by an email which arrived from a happy participant called Margaret  who said: …I was keen to do it when I saw the form a few weeks ago.  I've read all my life, under the covers with a torch, as an adult (working in a library for a while), later to my children and now my grandchildren, but I probably read even more than ever now that I live alone and have far more time and no one there to tell me not to read in bed because they don't want to be disturbed . . .

I've been stuck in a rut and too lazy to get out of it, so the challenge was a great idea for me.  Biographies I'd tried occasionally and not enjoyed, so I went for one of those first… I ticked the box on the entry form to say that I wouldn't read more of my 'new' category, but that's true of now, not then, because I then read Tony Hart's story (another sympathetic character) to try to push myself… 

Anyway, thank you for the challenge.  I suspect I will probably stick with my old favourites most of the time at the moment, but as soon as...I depend less on the escapism element of my reading, I will be branching out! 
I'm looking forward to next year's challenge . . . 
 
Here is a reader who has taken the challenge in the spirit in which it was created. Even though no one is looking over her shoulder, she has allowed herself to be pushed gently into choosing something different to read. So many people struggle to find books to read when they are browsing because they are always looking for an author or type of book they have tried before. There are so many wonderful books to be read on library shelves, we know that people just need to be open to trying something new occasionally, for some great reading experiences.

OK, Margaret's not hugely enthused by the biography titles she chose this time, but she has been inspired enough by the very fact of reading something different, to tell me her  reactions.

That’s reward enough for me.

Reading Rewards - 7 weeks to go.

Reading is intrinsically a rewarding activity.  It can entertain us, teach us things we didn't know, help us feel better and occasionally provide a  refreshing escape from the world around us. With the help of North West Libraries, readers now also have the chance of being rewarded with prizes.

For the 2nd year running , NW Libraries , through the Time To Read partnership, are offering the Reading Rewards adult reading challenge. To take part, all you  need to do is to read 8 books between now and October 31st, each one from a different category. The choice of title is entirely open, as long as they fit one of our categories. Library staff can help you make your choice, if necessary.

Children have been offered a reading challenge for many years via The Reading Agency's Summer Reading Challenge. This very popular summer activity has encouraged many children to read and they are rewarded for doing so. I saw a very excited child in my local library last week, running round telling everyone they were being rewarded for reading 2 books.

 We want adults to have the same opportunity.  Maybe not to run around, but to be challenged and rewarded. So, with 7 weeks to go, why not challenge yourself ? Enter the book you have just finished, plus one each week between now and the end of October, and you will be eligible to enter. Anyone can take part in Reading Rewards, via a form from a NW library or by entering online here. NB only people using a NW Library will be entered into the prize draw.   The picture shows one of last year's lucky prize winners

Each library authority will pick one lucky winner from a proverbial "hat" to receive a £50 shopping voucher, just in time to treat yourself for Christmas. There will also be one prize winner from any on-line entrants.

Good luck

Coming home

Oh my goodness, where does time go? Seems no time at all since I last wrote here…

Since June I have had a fabulous week in NW Scotland, spent a lot of time planning and co-ordinating Try Reading events and preparing to move office next week.

If you haven’t done so already, please take a look at our Try Reading website which promotes books, new writing  as well as events in libraries. We are really on the countdown to the Rugby League World Cup 2013 now. If you attend Rugby League matches already, why not submit a match report and share your love of the game with others.

I am returning to Manchester City Centre next week, after 3 years in an outpost. Not regrettably to Central Library, which is still a work in progress, but to the Town Hall next door. I hope it will be really good to be back at the heart of things- the City and the Department I work for.

Last week I also attended a training course on Blogging. Have been making it up myself, till now. The course run by DigiEnable really made me reflect on how a Blog can be made more interesting and I hope to inject some of my newly learned skills from now on.

Reading Rewards

Reading is intrinsically rewarding. It can entertain us, provide a refreshing escape from reality, teach us things we didn't know already or make us feel better.

With the help of NW libraries it can now also reward us in more tangible ways. For the second year running, the NW Libraries’  partnership Time To Read, is running the Reading Rewards adult reading challenge. People who read 8 titles from different categories will be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win a £50 shopping voucher.

Children have been challenged to read for several years through the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge. This has been enormously successful in promoting the joy of reading to young people.  We want adults to have the same opportunity: to read alongside their children if appropriate, or just to take part themselves.

We had some great comments from people who took part in our pilot Reading Rewards challenge last year, including The joy of reading for pleasure, making time to discover new authors and interests, is like being a teenager again!And
I have just completed the Adult Reading challenge! I feel elated.  It has done me so much good as it has encouraged me to read books outside my comfort zone.
To take part in Reading Rewards ,  pick up an entry form in any NW public library or enter on-line here.  Following the closing date of October 31st, each local authority (NW only) will select one winner from a proverbial “hat”. One winner will also be selected from the on-line entries (NB winners must ne NW Library users)

So the big project for this year has launched this week. Try Reading links 30 library authorities across the north of England in a project that promotes reading, writing and drama alongside the Rugby League World Cup 2013.
Over 150 events, including author talks, writing workshops and drama events will take place across the North West, Yorkshire and Humber regions between April and November 2013. Libraries will be working with local clubs and supporters’ groups as well as schools and other interested organisations.
We are extremely  grateful to Arts Council England who are supporting us with lottery funds through Grants For the Arts. We are also grateful to our new partners at The Rugby League World Cup 2013 who have seen the opportunity to reach new audiences via public libraries and clearly understand how a love of sport and love of reading and writing can go hand in hand. The Reading Agency has also linked its 2013 Six Book Challenge to the RLWC 2013 and the Try Reading project.
This is the biggest project NW Time To Read authorities will have engaged in and we are looking forward to a very different sort of sporting  year. For all the Try Reading information and news visit the new website

Poet Laureate visits Colne Library

 Yesterday was World Book Day. This is largely used as an opportunity to promote children's reading by publishers, booksellers and library staff,  to encourage and inspire children to read. Yet it also stands as a useful hook to hang other reading and literary activities on.

Lancashire Libraries had 2 reasons for inviting Carol Ann Duffy to appear in one of their libraries. Last year saw the 400th anniversary of the Pendle Witch trials. The story of these poor women in a remote corner of Northern England has long captured the imagination of writers and artists. A local Arts organisation Green Close commissioned Carol Ann to write a poem about the witches which could appear along a footpath in the area of Pendle Hill.  Carol Ann wrote a long poem which appears on 30 waymarkers along the path and gave it a first public reading last night, accompanied by "her" regular  musician John Sampson.

I have previously written here about the Poetry Places promotion of poetry that we ran in NW libraries in  the autumn of 2012 and which  included Carol Ann's poem Bees . Our Poetry Places poems all needed to be placed in, or be inspired by, the North West region and it was essential that one of our poems should represent  our industrial heritage.  Bees are a well known symbol of industry and hard work  and appear in the coats of arms of several towns and cities, including  Manchester and Blackburn. How perfect then, that we could represent our important northern heritage  symbolically through a poem about bees written by the Poet Laureate who just happens to live in our region. The poem can be seen and read here.

An essential element of our project was that the poets represented should give readings in libraries, so we were delighted when Carol Ann said she could be available to appear on World Book Day, to read from a range of her work including the 2 poems from the 2 parallel  projects. Colne Library was packed out with an audience which seemed excited to be welcoming the poet laureate into their community and delighted in both Carol Ann's readings and the musical interludes from musician John Sampson. I hope that for many of them it will have been a World Book Day to remember and which inspired them to hear and read more poetry.

Reading history again

Can you believe the goodreads website shows 442 popular books about Richard III ? I had a thought that I ought to list a few,  given that he is currently in our thoughts, but it seems there really are too many for me to mention.  
A quick scan of the first couple of pages of the list shows how fascinated historical writers have been with his character and especially  the as yet unsolved  mystery of whether or not he did despatch the young princes in the tower. I'm not sure the recent discovery of his bones will shed any more light on this mystery, but they certainly reveal that he met a violent end himself.
Any library staff with an eye on the news should be pulling as many of these books from their shelves as possible and displaying them for people to see easily. Our Pages Ago project of 2 years ago which promoted historical reading of all sorts, showed clearly that people loved the opportunity to discover history interpreted through the eyes of all sorts of writers.

New Year- new intentions

Have just noticed with horror how long it is since I last posted anything here. Promise to try harder this year.

A couple of things took up my attention at the end of 2012. One was a very positive outcome from the Dickens' reading group which had been meeting throughout the year. Inevitably a few people had fallen by the wayside, but at least 6 of the group are determined to keep meeting and reading Dickens through 2013. I will help them find a venue and plan the reading and while I might not read another 6 titles by Dickens this year, I shall certainly do my best to read at least one.

 Another project I was winding up was our Poetry Places project. This promoted the work of 12 North West- based  poets. Details can be found at http://www.time-to-read.co.uk/Promotions/default.asp?id=10

 As well as producing attractive print and purchasing collections of poetry books for libraries,at least 350 people  attended a poetry event in a library as a result of this project. Some of the major successes were:
•    Kei Miller in Warrington. 35 people attended an event on a Friday evening and was extremely enthusiastically received - this is just one example from the numerous glowing comments received.
Listening to a music-like performance of a truly talented and mesmerising skilled poet – inspirational!

•    Eleanor Rees pictured, delivered 2 events, in Halton and Congleton, and used these opportunities to create new poems especially for the libraries. She said
Thank you for letting me run with this. It will feature in my PhD thesis and I've been reflecting a lot of how to write for specific contexts and small groups! I also had some very enjoyable days out and was very supported by Janette at Runcorn and Mike and Dan at Congleton who took me out to lunch and picked me up for the station etc! It's been a very positive experience and I hope to develop the work further in the future

•    Lancashire Libraries invited Kevin McCann. They scheduled two poetry writing workshops with him for Lancashire Day (27th November) ... Kevin gave excellent workshops, I was very impressed by his infectious passion for poetry and by the depth of knowledge he had and related about different poets and the techniques they used.  They were highly engaging sessions...

Its really great to have ended the year on a positive note, knowing that library work has made a difference to some readers and writers. 2013 will be a very different year I know but come back soon to find out about some plans we have for reaching new reading audiences.

Poetry and more

What a busy week this has been- and one of the best sort at work. On Tuesday I was able to bring together my network of 20+ NW library staff with 9 of the 12 poets we are about to promote in a new project called Poetry Places 2. We had a great day talking about poetry and the challenges of encouraging people to borrow and read it. We heard  9 poets read some of their work, bringing their voices to life. We also recorded them reading the specific poems we will be promoting. There's still a lot of work to be done spreading the word, fixing events and making the poems as accessible as possible across the region, but a splendid start has been made.

Yesterday was also busy with other things. I held the 4th of 5 planned Dickens' reading group meetings, this time to discuss my favourite so far Hard Times. Weather and holidays kept a few people away- I hope it wasn't Dickens fatigue, but the die-hard readers who did attend,  managed an interesting discussion about the novel- is it humorous or not? What does it tell us about Dickens' own attitude to marriage, women, industry, the north?
I was heartened by some readers who not only intend to stick with this Dickens reading project to the end, but also want it to go on longer. We are already planning an extra December meeting to discuss A Christmas Carol.

From there I went to the beautiful Portico Library to hear Madeline Miller, winner of this year's Orange Prize, talk about her novel The Song of Achilles. For me this was a model book event. Just the right length, interesting and thoughtful questions, an engaging and enthusiastic author who made me want to read her book.

Reading Rewards

Very busy over the last couple of months organising Reading Rewards, an adult reading challenge running across NW Library services over the summer and up to 31st October 2012.
Children have been challenged to read more for a number of years via the Reading Agency's Summer Reading Challenge. There is also the Six Book Challenge for emergent readers.

Reading Rewards  now being tried out, is  for the main body of adult readers who perhaps want to broaden their reading or read more than usual over the summer. Time To Read is offering shopping voucher prizes for readers who read 3, 6 or 10 books from different categories of book. Library staff will be monitoring which the most and least popular categories are over the course of the promotion. Perhaps this will lead to some new and intersting insights into adult reading habits in this region.

One of the main purposes of Reading Rewards is to offer the opportunity for adult parents and carers to demonstrate to children that reading can be enjoyed at all ages. Many parents encourage their youngsters to take part in the Summer Reading Challenge. Now , at least in this region, they have no excuse for not borrowing something themselves and could be rewarded for doing so.

Full details of Reading Rewards can be found on the Time To Read website, along with a printable version of the entry leaflet.

How to kill a reading group???

I was surprised this week to both hear on the radio and read in a newspaper,  that a sure-fire way to kill a reading group is to read Middlemarch. Apparently a definitive list of book club rules has been drawn up by the influential Middle Class Handbook website to help members keep book group discussions on track and prevent the collapse of their club. Top of the list of tips,  is to avoid Middlemarch at all costs.

This jumped out at me because not only is Middlemarch one of my all time great reads, it is also the book I swear I will take to a desert island with me should I ever be lucky enough to have that opportunity. My own reading group read it  back in 2007 and lived on successfully. 

I'm sure I'm not alone amongst serious readers and book group advocates, in pouring scorn on this advice. Surely one of the main purposes of a book group is to be challenged to read something you might not have the motivation to tackle otherwise. Surely books that tackle serious issues, moral dilemmas and  questions about how people treat each other, for good or ill,  make for better book club discussions than simply whether or not its enjoyable?

It would be interesting to know from colleagues if there have been books that "finished off" a reading group of theirs. Certainly there have been many books over the years that I have failed to finish personally, and many meetings which some people have chosen not to attend, often because they really disliked a particular book. But it strikes me that a group that is defeated to a person by any specific book is probably one that is on its last legs anyway. Poor George Eliot for being so maligned!

NW Fiction

I've just been reading a post made on the Guardian's Book Blog  this week about an apparent dearth of fiction set in the north. The author's possibly disengenuous lack of awareness of so many writers has provoked lots of comment, including one from me, directing him to our very own website.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm so enthusiastic about encouraging our libraries to be aware of and champion writerswho write about our region, but then an article like this one reminds why.  So many books are published that its really difficult for individual titles and writers to stand out from the crowd. Books that are brilliantly written, enjoyable and deserving of a huge reading public can remain under-celebrated, under-reviewed and under-read.  The problem the author of the Guardian article could have acknowledged is not that the books aren't written, its that they don't get enough marketing, publicity and on-going attention. Perhaps it would be a good idea for publishers to co-operate in marketing their writers via  websites according to locality,  as well as genre or theme.

Now I'm really glad that for National Libraries Day this year I funded and co-ordinated 33 library events for NW writers and bought sets of their work for reading groups,  hopefully bringing their books to the attention of readers who will contuinue to talk about them and look out for future titles. In the autumn I'll be running a promotion of some NW poets, a sector that finds it even harder to generate sales and audience.

The author of the Guardian piece was looking for writers who write about their region, not just live in it. Just in case you want a quick reminder of the fiction writers we supported on National Libraries Day, they were Jenn Ashworth, Carol Birch. Gladys Mary Coles, David Gaffney, Robert Graham, MJ Hyland, Zoe Lambert, Qaisra Sharaz, Jane Rogers, Caroline Smailes, Cath Staincliffe, Michael Stewart, Emma Jane Unsworth, Helen Walsh, Paul Wilson. Virtually all of these, though not exclusively, have taken their inspiration for at least some of their work, from the places they have come from or live in now.  The NW region is so diverse in its communities, landscape and environments that it provides ample inspiration for a wide range of high-quality fiction.

World Book NIght

Monday 23rd April 2012 is this year's World Book Night, timed to coincide with Shakespeare's birthday and has long been a date on which literature has been celebrated worldwide. In 2012 World Book Night will be celebrated in the UK, Ireland, Germany and USA on the same day.

When WBN was dreamt up in 2011 some library people known to me were a bit sceptical. "What's in it for libraries?" they said. My view is always that anything promoting books and reading has to be a good thing and opportunities for the whole book industry- writers, publishers, booksellers, libraries, readers - to pull together are very rare. I was prepared to give it a go.

I understand that some writers and booksellers remain dubious about it: it does seem somewhat perverse to give their bread and butter away. However my personal experience as a giver in 2011 was so positive. Many people were delighted to be given a book that they would never, ever have walked into a shop and bought. It provided opportunities for rare and non-intrusive conversations with complete strangers and the added possibility of reminding them to use their library. It gave library staff opportunities to bring people together to talk about a great set of books and to put their creative hats on about how to get them into the hands of the maximum number of people.

This year staff are pleased to see a library message inside the free titles, which we hope will remind some people about using their local service for more free reading. It feels good to be part of something that is getting 1,ooo,ooo books into circulation. Some of them will have direct and personal impact on their readers.

So I am full of enthusiasm for Monday. I am rapidly re-reading the title I asked to give away The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell and loving it again. I plan to walk up to random members of the public in Manchester City Centre and try to give them the chance to love it too.

Has spring sprung?

Well aware its almost a month since I last posted anything here and I haven't been reading much either. I'm half-way through The Old Curiosity Shop and seem to have hit a bit of a wall. It was all progressing very well- I was caught up in the story of Little Nell and her Grandfather versus the odious Mr Quilp. But after her grandfather gambled their money away again, it seemed to go a bit astray with lots of new characters coming in for no obvious reasons. Has anyone else had this problem? Can I skip on a bit?

My blockage with this has coincided with some wonderful spring weather, now sadly over. I spent many hours last week out in the fresh air walking and gardening. Am now impatient to plant some of my seedling veg. out but am very glad I've waited. Maybe next week?

Plans are advanced now for World Book Night on April 23rd. Givers should be told very soon that their books are available for collection. Many libraries are organising activities on the day (& night) so keep an eye out for book-giving events happening where you are.

Dickens reading group

Manchester reads David Copperfield

The first meeting of the specially formed Manchester Dickens group met to discuss Dickens’ most autobiographical work. It’s a big book, the conversation ranged freely and could have gone on much longer than it did.

We needed to get to know each other a little and find out what each of us was hoping to gain from coming to this group. The reasons varied, but strong among them was a wish to enjoy discussing our reading with each other.

Here are just a few of the talking points.

It’s full of memorable characters; people many of us feel we know already, such as Mr Micawber and Uriah Heep. Some of our knowledge comes from films, so several of us felt we really valued the opportunity to read them for ourselves.

David’s own growth from childhood to maturity was the starting point. Harriet used a memorable phrase Happiness is wanting what you get, not getting what you want. Is this David’s lesson in life?

Who is the “best” character? Brian felt Uriah Heep is vividly drawn and wields the real power of the book. Amjad read the characters as either good or bad.

Someone else said he doesn’t do women very well. Did David just marry his mother? Both rather weak and arguably silly women who needed to be killed off so as to move the story along. But there is Betsy Trotwood who is eccentric but strong, sympathetic and reliable

Is Mr Micawber a hero or a villain? There were quite differing opinions about him; the words irritating and annoying were used, though we recognised he does prove crucial to saving the day near the end.

And what about Little Emily? Anja had strong opinions about her. Dickens tries to make us feel sorry for her as a victim of Steerforth’s evil intent. But all the time she knows she has inheritance from Barkis so is never really going to fall into prostitution. This brought us all up sharply - a new way of thinking about this rather shadowy character.

Finally we touched on the odd and “grotesque” characters Dickens has peppered this novel with. Geoffrey finds it a bit unbelievable that he could encounter so many. Mr Dick and Miss Mowcher are the most memorable. But is this one of Dickens’ wider purposes in writing? He makes us think about how people who are “abnormal” are treated. “ Trust me no more, but trust me no less, than you would trust a full-sized woman” says Miss Mowcher.

We touched on the structure of the novel, its coincidences and cliff-hangers, its moments when the author has clearly forgotten to tell us something or possibly even where he was up to. One of us finds him too long-winded, but others love the multi-layered descriptions, so much more vivid than when we are presented with a character on a film.

There was not enough time to discuss all the things we could have learnt from this novel, about child exploitation, debtor’s prisons, poor education standards, but I’m sure over the course of the year these topics will re-appear. One shocking fact that Donna shared with us was that the age of consent was only 12 years at this time.

Funny that we didn’t talk about Agnes at all !

Caution-contains spoilers!

aagh- too much to do & say, too little time, what with work and life and Facebook and reading David Copperfield! Every spare moment over the last month has been absorbed by reading aforementioned DC. But I'm so glad I did, as I've never read it before. As I read, flashes came into my memory of a b&w film version I must have seen a very very long time ago- young DC up on a horse & cart next to "is willin'" Barkis. I also seem to remember crying over a BBC version as Dora died with her Doady by her bedside. But memory is fickle. I would have sworn Dora died early on in the story leaving David free to discover who he really ought to be married to for much of the novel. But its not like that at all. Dora dies towards the end and his second marriage seems short-changed, even though we've seen it coming for a very long time.

I'm glad I read this early in Dickens' bi-centenary year as it was so jolly and fast-moving and entertaining, despite the serious themes and extreme length. It has made me keen to read more. Just as well, as I have undertaken to assemble a reading group of Dickens' champions which will read 5 novels this year. We will meet to talk about them and share our thoughts on a website . So its The Old Curiosity Shop next which I don't think I know anything about, except isn't it the one in which Little Nell.....shhhhh.

Can't finish without mentioning Robert Burns' birthday yesterday. I was so pleased to read a Guardian column by Paul Kingsnorth [Gaurdian 25.1.12] comparing Robert Burns with Dorset poet William Barnes. This also took me back, to my own Dorset days and to digging out my "Selected Poems of WB, edited by Geoffrey Grigson". Tucked inside was a newspaper column dated 28.1.84- a comment piece by Roy Hattersley talking about Philip Larkin, and William Barnes ( & briefly Thos. Hardy and E.M. Forster). This column flagged up Barnes' extraordinary facility with language- knowing some of at least 60 and conversing regularly in Persian & Hindusthani with a local neighbour. Seems extraordinary in the Dorset I remember.

For those of you who don't know him, here's a link to enable you to download one of his collections for free.

So there we have it: I have read and remembered 3 extraordinarily energetic & influential writers this week- Robert Burns, William Barnes and Charles Dickens. I wonder who fits their mould today?

Keep the sparkle going

On Tuesday night I found myself on the 5th Floor of the Piccadilly (London) branch of Waterstones at a glittering gathering of publishers, writers, librarians (current & former) Reading Agency staff and assorted "literary" supporters. All had gathered to celebrate the publisher & library partnership Reading Partners and to hear details of future co-operation for 2012.

Despite the current uncertainty about, in both local government and publishing, the tone of the evening was resolutely positive and optimistic ( to quote Tony Durcan of Society of Chief Librarians). At least 40 new or significantly re-furbished libraries will open in 2012 and The Reading Agency will continue to be energetic, supporting a strategic reading year with high impact events and promotions. We were reminded that across the UK's public library network there remain over 4,100 library sites and 12 million active borrowers

Reading Partners involves 40 UK publishers and will now embrace Waterstones as a retail partner. There is still room to work with Independent booksellers, many of whom will continue to work closely with their local libraries. It was heart-warming to hear Joanna Prior , Managing Director of Penguin (General Division) state that libraries are a vital partner for publishers and are always considered and included in marketing campaigns.

The short series of speeches was rounded off by novelist Kate Mosse who spoke passionately about libraries role in providing access to the written word and declared "authors and readers of today will not let down the writers and readers of tomorrow".

Yes, everyone there was committed to the future of libraries and as far as I could tell, understood the vital role libraries play in generating readers for writers across the spectrum of publishing. But in these hard times when much of the future seems uncertain, it was wonderfully reassuring, as well as an increasingly rare opprtunity, to meet work colleagues and make new contacts. Fantastic as well to talk to writers such as Hardeep Singh Kohli and Patrick Ness (pictured with me here) who had enjoyed visits to libraries in this region and are keen to return.

Literature & Philosophy in Rochdale

A few years ago Rochdale Library Service was delighted to discover that it had been left a substantial legacy by a local couple Mr Frank and Mrs Annie Maskew for a collection of works of Literature & Philosophy. Monday evening this week saw the formal launch of the collection and the fruition of long-held dreams.

Frank and Annie Maskew who originally met in Rochdale library, shared a passion for reading and thinking . Annie, a long-serving teacher at the former Queen Elizabeth High School died in 2006, after leaving a bequest to the library service to be used on English literature and philosophy, to ensure classic works are available for future generations. Several of her former pupils attended Monday's launch and spoke movingly about the long-standing love of classic literature she had instilled in them. She had clearly been an inspirational teacher of the sort we might all wish we had encountered.

Rochdale Council has now recruited Suzi Heslan as project manager and launched an extended ‘Maskew Collection’ which includes literature & philosophy titles for adults and children together with CDs and DVDs. The collection includes prize-winning books alongside popular philosophy titles, and is being used as an opportunity to develop innovative new ways of using library services. Suzi has planned and begun a series of events including Philosophy Coffee and Classic Reads discussion groups. The week of November 21st sees a whole week of activity to 'Get Rochdale Reading' and in January there will be an event on Lord Byron's birthday, marking his understated links with the area.

Monday's well-attended launch brought poets and musicians together for a cool set of jazz and poetry from local writers, in a corner of the library where we were surrounded by the first books to have been purchased through the bequest. I'm sure the evening would have made Mr and Mrs Maskew feel very proud and it certainly felt like a beacon of cultural enjoyment and optimism amidst all the recent more gloomy news stories about the decline of libraries.

For more information about the Maskew Collection or to find out about more about planned activities please contact Suzi Heslan on (01706) 924 933

Dickens matters

Well- where did all those weeks go? I can't believe 6 weeks have passed since I last wrote here. A couple of them were spent very happily attending Manchester Literature Festival events, bigger and better than ever this year. One of the great features of this festival for me, is that someone writes up a blog for every event which all give a really good flavour. These are brilliant for confirming or challenging your own experience, or for describing an event you may have missed. Please take a look at some or all of them here.

As for the other weeks, they are lost in routine and activity planning for next year. Which brings me to Dickens. Anyone interested in books will already know that we will all be celebrating the bi-centenary of Dickens' birth on 7th Feb 2012. The BBC is making splendid plans for some new productions , publishers will be re-issuing and promoting his titles, London is holding a Cultural Olympiad Festival. One of the Manchester Literature Festival events I attended was a talk by Clare Tomalin about Dicken's life and I have since been reading her thorough and detailed biography. This in turn has led me back to his fiction, in audio form. Many a librarian has said to me that they think people are put off reading him because of the sheer size of his volumes. But today there are so many ways to "access" Dickens. There are marvellous recorded readings of all his titles, brilliant TV productions on DVD, condensed and illustrated graphic versions for younger readers and of course e-book versions for those readers attracted to new lightweight formats.

I am all in favour of people discovering Dickens in whatever way suits them best. Most of his books are door-stop sized and somewhat intimidating for the casual reader. But the themes and subjects of his books are important and relevant to our current times. Here in the NW I hope that all our libraries will celebrate Dickens both for what he was and for what he wrote about. He visited the region many times and was particularly fond of both Manchester & Liverpool. I will be trying to trace all the other places he visited locally as well.

For a brilliant summary of why he matters you just need to read the final paragraph of Claire Tomalin's biography which starts He left a trail like a meteor, and everyone finds their own version of Charles Dickens. More anon...