Festival to expand ‘mood-boosting’ shared reading sessions

Derby Book Festival has announced it is to further expand its number of ‘Shared Reading’ groups across the county.

Shared Reading is a community programme, now in its seventh year, that aims to improve wellbeing and alleviate feelings of isolation through reading together and friendly conversation.

The programme enables people to come together in libraries, cafés and other community spaces to read, listen and share their thoughts about a variety of written material – from poetry, lyrics and letters to diary entries and inspiring quotations.

Having National Lottery Funding to expand the scheme’s positive mental impact across the city, Derby Book Festival is now looking to recruit additional volunteers to run groups that people can attend through its ‘Spring into Volunteering’ campaign.

Research carried out last year by Dr Hannah Blake and Philippa Rose of the University of Derby, found that Derby Book Festival’s Shared Reading programme was improving wellbeing for both participants and volunteers.

In their report, they said: “It is clear from the findings of this evaluation that Derby Book Festival’s Shared Reading Project is having a positive impact on both beneficiaries and volunteers.

“The project is helping individuals’ mental health and well-being and bringing people together as a community.”

This conclusion is backed up by the late BBC science presenter Michael Mosley, who had  raised awareness of the benefits of reading poetry aloud on an episode of his popular radio programme ‘Just One Thing’, which aired on 9 May on BBC Radio 4.

There are free, drop-in Shared Reading sessions held weekly in various venues across the city.

To find out where your nearest group is, or to volunteer to run a group, visit https://www.derbybookfestival.co.uk/community/shared-reading .