Alison Brown studies how bringing people together to read aloud and discuss compelling literature can strengthen wellbeing and build social inclusion in our diverse communities.
“For many, reading is deeply personal. We read to make sense of our lives, escape into the unknown, find companionship in the familiar, discover what we and others are capable of. All of this can be amplified when we read aloud together.”
@QuillAndSpade
As I write these lines of my final post in this blog series focused on shared reading, I am thinking about a different, shorter line — the epigraph of E. M. Forster’s novel Howards End: “Only connect.” The epigraph is a quote from the novel itself and the primary motivation of its main character, Margaret […]
“The people who come to evening classes are only ostensibly after culture. Their great need, their hunger, is for good sense, clarity, truth – even an atom of it. People are dying – it is no metaphor – for lack of something real to carry home when day is done.” Saul Below, Herzog Most of […]
All of my favourite books have made me cry. The first was Bridge to Terabithia. I am still not over Jess’ anguish at returning home to discover his best friend Leslie drowned when the rope swing broke while she was trying to cross the creek, alone. Or perhaps the first book to make me cry […]
Bringing people together to read aloud and discuss literary fiction has supported people of all ages, backgrounds, and life circumstances. In public libraries, workplaces, shelters, cafes, prisons, senior care homes, community centres, on video calls and more, shared reading has enriched people’s sense of inclusion, connection, and wellbeing. Providing space for readers to explore and […]
On a cold and grey November morning, a small group of people gathered over Zoom, copies of Mary Oliver’s poem Wild Geese in hand. The group’s facilitator reads the poem aloud: You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. […]
Before diving into the wellbeing effects of shared reading (in next month’s blog!), it is worth considering what it means to be well. Rooted in ancient philosophy and religious practices, the modern scientific study of wellbeing is vast, spanning many fields including psychology, economics, philosophy, sociology, geography, development, and health. Yet a precise, universal definition […]
Those who participate in shared reading groups describe them as their oasis, an anchor in their lives, a driver of their wellbeing. Researchers are beginning to understand why these gatherings are potentially transformative. Two key underlying and interconnected processes appear to contribute: feeling secure and supported in a group environment, and collective engagement with the […]
Mugs of tea in hand, a group of us leaned in a little closer, listening intently as Anna read aloud from Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book. We were at once delighted and horrified with the story’s precocious six-year-old Sophia and her musings on the nature of love and mortality. We probed one another’s thoughts, ideas, […]
The association of literature with health and human flourishing has a history almost as long as that of reading itself. The earliest verified library, constructed around 1250 BC at the tomb complex of Rameses II, bore the inscription Psyches Iatreion, ‘Healing Place of the Soul’ on the lintel above its portal. The ancient Greeks intentionally […]
As humans, we crave connection for meaning and purpose. When we feel isolated from others we feel less joy and become vulnerable to mental illness. And yet our communities lack spaces for people to hold meaningful discussions to surface ideas, share experiences, and develop empathy. Those spaces that do exist often fail to cut across […]
