Reading Workshop

Reading (the activity not the place)

Thursday 13th December, 5pm, Seminar room, John Rylands Deansgate (meet in the café by reception to be shown the way to the room)

What do you imagine when you read? Do you read to feel happy, safe, reassured? Reading is both an intimate and public activity, we read alone but might be reading the same text as millions of other people. It is sometimes seen as geeky or boring but it is often the first thing that gets restricted under totalitarian regimes. Books transmit ideas and reading forbidden literature (however boring) will always be radical. We can think about how technology has shaped our reading practices as well – the internet has revolutionised publishing and changed how censorship works– the Nazis were able to burn books but it is much harder to shut down the web. It isn’t just totalitarian regimes that ban books either, we can map societal change in the UK through the publication of previously prohibited literature – like Lady Chatterley’s Lover – and we can see how far we’ve come with 50 Shades of Grey topping the bestseller lists…

To find out more come along to our very informal seminar, four short talks and audience discussion about the many faces of ‘reading’. It will last about an hour and afterwards we shall retire to the pub for a drink. PLACES ARE LIMITED SO PLEASE EMAIL rosy.rickett@manchester.ac.uk or click ‘attending’ on the facebook event if you would like to come.