Reading Communities Project

Day 20 - Saturday, March 24, 2007

2007-04-14T23:16:00.000-07:00

Back home.

Over the course of the last few weeks, we've been collecting information about people's reading habits whilst organising events and workshops, book giveaways and exhibitions.

One interesting result of our research is how important grandparents are in encouraging reading amongst young children. Many of the older people we spoke to said that they were the only people who read to their grandchildren, or bought them books as gifts. It was also interesting to note that people thought that libraries were one of the best ways to promote reading, even though they didn't necessarily visit libraries themselves!

The most positive result was a resounding 'yes' to the question: Is reading important? When asked to explain why, comments included:

broadens your horizons
teaches you about new things
helps you get on in life
relaxing
enjoyable
inspirational

I hope the Stori Sydyn/Quick Reads continue to be all of these things to whoever picks one up.

Day 19 - Friday, March 23, 2007

2007-04-14T23:02:00.001-07:00

The last day of the Reading Communities project in Swansea.

It's been a busy few weeks, but today is the last day. We're at the Quadrant Shopping Centre again today, and I'm looking forward to it as the response we got yesterday was fantastic.

It was a great idea to tie in with Swansea Libraries, as people got a chance to ask questions about local library resources and even sign up for a library card. Lots of people are concerned about the library moving to the watefront, so it was also a chance to reassure people that the move was going to mean lots of new resources and a wonderful view of the sea.

On the Quick Reads stand, we explained to people all about the Quick Reads series and described the individual books. It's great to have a range of books to talk about, and the importance of having a range of different genres showed during the shopping centre exhibition as some people preferred romance, whilst others liked autobiographies or thrillers. It was great to show the range of Welsh language books on offer as well.

Day 18 - Thursday, March 22, 2007

2007-04-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

We decided it would be a great idea to try and reach a lot of people by taking some exhibition space in a shopping centre. The idea was that people who visited shopping centres weren't necessarily readers or people who visited libraries, and that this way we could promote the Quick Reads series more widely to the general public.

With this in mind, we booked some space at the Quadrant Shopping Centre smack bang in the middle of Swansea, and invited Swansea Libraries to join us to showcase what libraries have to offer these days. People are still a bit stuck with the old image of libraries being a stuffy place with a bossy librarian, and this is a difficult image the libraries are trying to shake off. These days libraries are really more about being a resource for communities to use for all kinds of things, and there's rarely a 'no talking' rule any more.

In the afternoon, Lleucu covered my post on the stand as I had to rush up to the Dragon Arts and Learning Centre where Lynne Barrett-Lee, author of one of last year's Quick Reads and ghost-writer of Fiona Phillips' book A Day to Remember, was doing a workshop with a creative writing group.

The Dragon Arts Centre provides free arts and training classes and opportunities to anyone who has experienced homelessness or social exclusion and who may have difficulty accessing mainstream education. They do this through a wide range of activities and events both on and off-site. They are also a member of "Open College Network Wales" which enables their members to gain nationally recognised accredited qualifications for the work they do and produce at the centre.

Lynne talked to the creative writing group about how she goes about putting a story together and gave them handy hints about how to get those creative juices flowing. Lots of the members were keen to know how to go about getting their work published, and Lynne gave an insiders' view on the best way to go about this.

The group was very enthusiastic, and whilst Lynne had a break, they came up with their own ideas for stories. As with the prisons workshop, the work was very honest, and sometimes shockingly so. Some stories included description of violence and homophobia, drug and alchohol abuse and feelings of alienation. Although none of the group mentioned explicitly that the stories were autobiographical, it was obvious that they wrote from first-hand experience.

At the end of the session, Lynne got a lovely surprise when a member of the group who had taken photos at the start of the session presented her with a beautifully framed picture of herself with the group as a momento of the day. Thanks to everyone at The Dragon Arts and Learning Centre.

Day 17 - Wednesday, March 21, 2007

2007-04-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

Dad's 60 today - PENBLWYDD HAPUS Dad!

A total change from yesterday, and this evening I went over to Catwg Primary School in Catwg near Neath to give copies of the book to the Women's Institute, who are also helping us to distribute the Quick Reads books.

When I arrived to meet Pam Muir from the WI, I wasn't expecting to see so many people - there must have been about 100 ladies in the school hall!

The WI are going to read the books themselves, and pass them on to friends and relatives whom they think may enjoy the books. Groups in Aberystwyth and Caernarfon have also done this. One lady told be she thought she's pass her book to her mother, who used to love reading, but now had Alzheimer’s disease. She can no longer manage more than a few pages of a book, but she thought perhaps she would enjoy one of the Quick Reads and be able to finish it.

Day 16 - Tuesday, March 20, 2007

2007-04-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

It was Rhodri's turn to visit prison today, as we were running a session with Niall Griffiths at Swansea Prison.

HMP Swansea is a category B local prison, which holds adult males, remanded into custody from the courts, convicted and sentenced prisoners.

When we first started to think about doing the workshops in the prison, I asked the prison education officers about the kind of books the inmates liked to read. Ironically enough, crime or true crime thrillers were amongst the favourites! So we decided that Niall Griffiths' book, a black comedy about a man on the run from a London gangster, would be a good choice for these workshops.

Rhodri and Niall visited the prison two weeks ago to give out copies of the book, and Niall introduced himself as an author, explaining what he did from day to day and talking about the other books he'd published. He then set the group a challenge of writing their own 'Quick Read' of no more than 500 words, saying that he'd be coming back during Reading Communities Week to see what they'd come up with and choose the best one to receive a prize.

Rhodri said that the group were quite honest with Niall regarding what they thought of the book - one said he liked it, but thought the ending was rubbish! I think Niall was okay about it!

The story-writing exercise was really successful. Some of them were very moving, since a lot of the group had been through some terrible experiences. It went some way to explaining how some of these articulate and intelligent men found themselves in the prison.

I hope we can publish some of the stories on this blog, once they've been collected and typed up.

Later Day 15

2007-04-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

The first event in Swansea was an author questions and answers session at The Kingsway Centre, right in the middle of the city.

The Learning Resource Centre aims to provide a welcoming, supportive environment in which all students have access to learning and IT support. There are 17 computers with a good range of up to date software, online support materials, access to the Internet, books to borrow, newspapers to read.

Lindsay's session formed part of a day's activities to open the new learning resource centre.

Lindsay read a chapter of her book to a group of students who are currently studying basic skills literacy at the Kingsway Centre. After the reading, the group had the opportunity to ask Lindsay any questions about her work.

The session went really well, with the students needing no prompting from the tutors in asking questions. I think a lot of people find the crime genre very interesting, and particularly how a mother of four living in Borth delves into her imagination to create the scenarios in books such as The Rubber Woman. Lindsay answered a lot of questions about how she goes about writing, how she comes up with ideas and her life as an author. The response was so good that in the end, we had to bring the session to a close for lunch - I'm sure the questions could have kept coming all day.

The tutors at the Kingsway Centre will be conducting a digital photo story session with the students later today, emphasising that we all have stories to tell, so hopefully Lindsay will have provided them with some inspiration for that.

Thanks to Sarah Hall for organising everything.

Day 15 - Monday, March 19, 2007

2007-04-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Swansea!

Another week, another town and today we kicked off Reading Communities Week in Swansea.

It was all hands on deck today, since we needed to get the books and display stands out to all the businesses taking part. Swansea's obviously the biggest place taking part, so it took a bit more time to find everyone. The people were all great though - it seems to be a friendly place, everyone really helpful even when we got a bit lost trying to find Townhill Community School!

All kinds of different businesses took part once again - from the Starbucks coffee shop in the Borders store on the Fforestfach shopping complex to the Villiers' Arms pub, Zest Cafe Bar on the waterfront to the Alexandra Road Dental Practice in Gorseinion, and the Fforestfach Medical Group.

Day 12 - Friday, March 16, 2007

2007-04-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

At the same time as Lindsay's workshop yesterday, another of our partners on this project, the Welsh learners' society CYD (Cymdeithas y Dysgwyr) ran a coffee morning in a local cafe where they could have a chat with Caryl Lewis about her Stori Sydyn/Quick Reads book, Y Rhwyd.

Caryl is a very popular author in Wales having sccoped Book of the Year for her novel Martha, Jac a Sianco in 2005. She's also from Ceredigion. She's about to publish her third, Y Gemydd (The Jeweller), and I'm really looking forward to reading it. I enjoyed Y Rhwyd, it was one of those stories where you were always trying to second-guess what was coming next, and the story was very modern in it's use of email and chatrooms as part of the plot.

As I said at the start of the project, the Stori Sydyn books are really popular with the more advanced learners. Because the books stick as much as possible to everyday language, they don't have to keep going to the dictionary all the time and can just really start enjoying a book in Welsh.

Jaci Taylor from CYD also organised a Stori Sydyn quiz in the evening, where five teams were tested on their knowledge of the books - as well as getting a chance to practice speaking Welsh of course!

Day 11 - Thursday, March 15, 2007

2007-04-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

Three events on in Aberystwyth today.

The first was a workshop with the author of The Rubber Woman, Lindsay Ashford.

Working alongside Geraldine Taylor, the basic skills tutor, and Derval Casey their Work based Learning Training Adviser, Lindsay (who lives just outside Aberystwyth, in Borth) read extracts and took questions about her book. It was really interesting to hear all about how Lindsay had got into the crime fiction genre, her degree in criminology and particularly the research that went into The Rubber Woman. Lindsay had actually shadowed a community worker who was trying to help prostitutes get off the streets, and learnt a lot about the drugs that kept these women in such a desperate situation.

The learners were all given a copy of the book at the end of the session, and the tutor is going to do group readings of the book, with the learners following in their own copy. They will then have a discussion about the book and do some short written pieces on what they thought of the book. These short pieces will then be sent to to us. I'm looking forward to seeing what their thoughts are.

Day 10 - Wednesday, March 14, 2007

2007-04-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday today!

Had fun going around all the different cafes, pubs and other businesses taking part in the campaign - it's nice to meet the people you've been speaking to over the phone and show them the books. They all thought the campaign was a really good idea. I didn't really know Aber very well before this week, but I'm finding my way around the town by now.

The photographer, Keith Morris, helped us get our participants to pose with the books. Some of them were naturals, getting into the spirit of things straight away and having a bit of fun whilst others need a bit of an encouragement and some (sort of!) funny jokes from Keith before they showed their pearly whites!

Day 8 - Monday, March 12, 2007

2007-03-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

This week we're in Aberystwyth. We had a great response for all kinds of businesses in Aberystwyth, with over 15 taking part in the campaign by displaying posters or books, so today we went around all the businesses taking part to deliver their materials and explain more about the Quick Reads. Hairdressers, Cafes, dental surgeries, doctors all took part, as well as the local primary school in Penparcau. We helped contribute towards their 'Read a Million Words' effort by supplying Quick Reads with word count stickers on them. We also put up displays at the local leisure centre and the further education college, Coleg Ceredigion. With all the support, I hope the local media pick up on the Quick Reads and we'll get some pictures into the paper.

Day 7 – Sunday, 11th March

2007-03-18T10:49:00.002-07:00

Had a great time at a Family Fun Day organised in Galeri, Caernarfon. The event is organised three times a year for families with autistic children to enjoy a day out for the whole family, and there’s a chance to see a film and take part in a music workshop.

Being very busy parents, the adults I spoke to didn’t ever have time to read – in fact one lady commented that she’d been trying to get through the same novel for over a year! Another said she’d like to take one to her elderly mother, who would find the larger print easier to read. The Quick Reads concept really appealed to these busy families, and I was busy all day explaining the different books available and the idea behind the series.

Day 5 – Thursday, 8th March, 2007

2007-03-18T10:49:00.001-07:00

A very busy day today.

At 9.30am we went over to the Noddfa Centre on the Ysgubor Goch estate in Caernarfon. Every week, parents take their children to a ‘Ti a Fi’ session at the centre, and we were invited to speak to the mothers whilst the toddlers enjoyed their playtime!

Bethan Gwanas spoke to them about her books generally, and especially the Quick Read book Os Mêts, before discussing with the mothers what they liked to read and when they got the time to pick up a book. Everyone then received a copy of the book to take home and it will be good to get their opinions once they’ve had time to read the books between nappy changes and feeds!

Then Bethan and I went on to Caernarfon library, where a group of young mothers between the ages of 15-18 meet to chat to the midwife. The girls were a bit shy to start, but sooned warmed up once they found out who Bethan was – many of them had read her books at school, so they were glad of the opportunity to read her latest book and speak to her about what it was like to be young mothers.

In the afternoon, we had a special event going on at the creative centre, Galeri. This was a chance for the public to come and listen to Bethan Gwanas being quizzed about her new book by Luned Emyr, a popular S4C presenter. The whole afternoon had a nice feel to it – everyone sitting on the comfy sofas listening to the two ladies having a laugh and a natter. It was interesting to see people passing and trying to see what was going on, and by the end of the session, our audience had doubled.

Day 3 – Wednesday, 7th March, 2007

2007-03-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

CYD – the Welsh language learners’ group - organised a coffee morning and a Quick Reads/Stori Sydyn quiz yesterday. The Welsh language books appeal to learners because the language is a little simpler and the books shorter, making them that little bit more manageable. I’ve had many learners tell me how please they are that more Stori Sydyn books have been published, since they’ve already read all of last year’s titles!

Later Day 2

2007-03-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, Gwenan was busy going around all the shops, offices, dental surgeries, doctors' surgeries, pubs. post offices and drop-in centres who had agreed to take part in the Reading Communities campaign by displaying the books and putting up posters.

We've had a fantastic response, people seem to really latch on to the idea and I'm surprised how many people are passionate about giving people access to books.

Day 2 - Tuesday, 6th March, 2007

2007-03-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

As I said in my previous blog, I was in hospital today. Nothing serious though - I was promoting my books on the hospital radio, with the help of local women's group Merched y Wawr.

We decided that the books would be ideal for people in hospital because they are so quick and easy to read, and so I roped in the regional president of Merched y Wawr to do some recording. She was great - she has a really lovely soothing but lively voice and was a real one take wonder, so we'd finished by lunchtime. The hospital radio station, which is fantastic and run by a group of volunteers, are going to play the recordings all week and go around the wards offering the books to anyone who's enjoyed hearing the extracts on the radio.

Here's a look at Mary in action - thanks Mary!

Day 1 - Monday March 5, 2007

2007-03-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

The first Reading Communities Week kicks off in Caernarfon.

All the preparation has been done and now it's time to get the show on the road.

Reading Communities has been organised in order to promote a new series of books by the Basic Skills Agency and Welsh Books Council called Quick Reads/Stori Sydyn, and over the next three weeks I'm responsible for organising events in Caernarfon, Aberystwyth and Swansea to get the books out there into the community and encourage people to pick up a book.

Even though today marks the start of the Reading Communities Week in Caernarfon, today I was at Altcourse prison in Fazakerley, Liverpool to show them the books in the series. This is the nearest prison to North Wales and Caernarfon, so this is where many offenders from the area would go.

Apparently, 75% of those who enter the prison have the reading age of an eight year old, which is a frightening statistic. So the Quick Reads books, written for new or emergent readers, or people out of the habit of reading, are ideal, and the group we met certainly looked keen to start reading them. We've left them with comments forms, so it'll be interesting to get their opinion on the books.

People who find reading difficult often can't find books they enjoy reading - things like thrillers, romance or autobiographies. The Quick Reads series has all these kinds of books. Fiona Phillips' book, A Day to Remember, is a romantic comedy, whilst Niall Griffiths' book Bring it Back Home is a bit of a thriller. Tanni Grey-Thompson's book leaves you feeling ready for the next challenge, because it's all about how she managed to be so successful in winning medals in the field of wheelchair athletics. The last English book is by Lindsay Ashford, and it's a thriller about murder and prostitution set in Cardiff.

There are also four Welsh language books in the series, all by familiar names or faces. Gary Slaymaker, for example, is a TV presenter and columnist for the Western Mail and everyone knws him as the guy who reviews films. His book is really funny, and touching at the same time. It explains how he developed his love for films and Cardiff City Football Club! Though I'm not really much of a football fan myself, I couldn't put that one down.

Two of the other books are thrillers, written by Caryl Lewis and Gareth F Williams. Caryl Lewis' book, Y Rhwyd, is one of those creepy books where there are so many twists you're scared to turn the page (in a good way!), and Gareth F Williams' book Tacsi i'r Tywyllwch reminds me of one of those gruesome TV two-parters where body parts end up all over the place and scary things go on in dark corners. All great reading material though.

The last book Os Mêts is by Bethan Gwanas, one of Wales' most popular authors. It's about a gang of girls going on a hen night, and as you can imagine, things go wrong and friendships are pushed to breaking point.

All set for tomorrow now, and my visit to hospital.