Looking for a book club or a reading group? Find out about shared reading!
LATEST NEWS
we are delighted to launch a new shared reading group. Join us at Market Harborough - full details below.
Looking for voluntary work? our steering group needs you! Scroll down for further information.
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Celebrating Our Volunteers During Volunteers' Week
During Volunteers' Week, we celebrated the amazing people who make our Shared Reading groups possible. From our Reader Leaders to those working behind the scenes, every volunteer helps create welcoming spaces where people can connect, share ideas, and enjoy literature together.
We were also delighted to be named Creative Harborough's "Creative of the Month." Their feature, Creating Community One Story at a Time, beautifully highlights the connections and sense of belonging that Shared Reading brings to our community.
A huge thank you to all our volunteers for their time, care, and commitment. Their support helps our groups continue to grow and reach more people.
Read the full Creative Harborough feature here: https://www.creativeharborough.org/post/creating-community-one-story-at-a-time-at-harborough-s-reading-group
What is Leicestershire Shared Reading?
Leicestershire Shared Reading (LSR) is a voluntary organisation, set up in 2016, to work in partnership with Leicestershire County Council's library service to support a thriving network of ‘Make Friends, with a Book’ Shared Reading groups. The groups, led by volunteer Reader Leaders, meet weekly either via Zoom or in person at public libraries around Leicestershire and are open to anyone to drop in and sit for a while, listening to stories and poems being read aloud. Find out more about what happens in a group by clicking here.
Some of the Glenfield Library group members
VIDEO CORNER
As part of Volunteers' Week 2025, Nicky was given the opportunity to talk a bit about how shared reading got started in Leicestershire, how it works, and how everyone can get involved. Many thanks to Leicestershire County Council for filming this short interview. You can watch it below.
Meanwhile, clicking on this link will take you to a video of one of our Zoom groups in action.
Volunteer with us!
Are you keen to use your skills to bring people together through a shared interest? Are you looking for a few hours of voluntary work that you can do from home?
We currently have an opportunity for an enthusiastic individual to join our Steering Group and help to ensure that our small organisation can continue to do big things! Working behind the scenes, our Steering Group is a team of people with diverse experience and skills who are all passionate about the value of Shared Reading.
Are you a person with experience in funding applications and networking? We need a Fundraising Leader to maintain and develop relationships with funding partners, helping us to grow and share the pleasure of Shared Reading with even more people.
If you'd like to join our steering group and help ensure that our work can continue, head to our 'get involved' page to find out more.
"What I love about Shared Reading groups is that everyone is welcome and everyone is valued, reading sessions are accessible to all and are non-judgmental. The story or poem is always kept at the centre of the discussion, which enables the group to get the most out of it."
Helena, Reader Leader
Click below if you'd like to find out more about being a volunteer Reader Leader
What do we read?
Choosing 'good' literature is key to the success of Shared Reading. Not everything we read is serious, but it all has depth and makes us think and feel; our discussions tend to focus more on characters and what makes them tick than on plot, and we enjoy finding out what a poem means. We usually read a short story and a poem or two in each session, but some groups prefer to read a novel alongside the poetry. Over the last month or so, our groups have shared stories by authors as diverse as Juliam Barnes, Amy Tan and Italo Calvino. One group is reading Andrea Leby's 'Small Island' while another has just embarked on 'North and South' by Elizabeth Gaskell. Poetry choices have included works by Shelley, Burns and Masefield, with more modern poets represented by Seamus Heaney, Mark Doty, Roger McGough and Carol Ann Duffy. Group members often talk about the delight of getting to know new writers as well as the pleasure of revisiting more familiar works.
After each session, the Reader Leader compiles a short report, recording what was read and how it was received. You can read an example here - this is from a group of around six members. It gives us a good sense of how the conversation unfurls and develops as the reading progresses... but the best way to find out how shared reading works is to visit a group, of course! Why not give it a try?
What people say about shared reading
Over the years we have received lots of lovely feedback showing the value of the shared reading experience to our group members. Here are some of their comments:
"I am so glad I saw the poster in the library. Joining this group is the best thing I have done for me for years. [It] has made the world of difference to me, I just love it. Thank you everyone."
“I feel I can express my opinions without feeling that I would be judged. I enjoy the positive responses I receive from my group. It makes me feel I belong to something.”
“I look forward to meeting other members and chatting. I feel we have come to know each other quite well over the years.”
"The reading groups are a different kind of medicine and it's through them that I've found a way back to life"
“For a while you can forget what’s going on in the world and [have] company.”
"Our experienced and sensitive Reader Leaders ensure that sessions are both inclusive and non-threatening. Through experience, they are able to guide the discussion or to allow it to take its own course. This approach leads to all members feeling valued and, in a safe environment, free, not to just talk about the book/poem, but their experiences and feelings."
Want to join us?
If you'd like to visit a group and experience shared reading for yourself, find out about when and where our groups meet here - and if it's a library-based group, there is no need to book. It's free, there's no homework or preparation to do, and no obligation to attend every week. If you'd like to join one of our Zoom-based groups, you'll need a device and a stable internet connection. Contact us at the email address below and we will send you a link.
We look forward to seeing you!