No pens, no paper, no prep….like a book club, but with no homework!
Starting on 7th November, I’m going to be running a weekly reading group in Coventry on behalf of the Royal Literary Fund.
Each week I will read the group a new poem and a short story aloud, and then we’ll discuss them together. Research shows how good it is for us to be read aloud to but how many of us actually make the time to do this? This is ninety minutes when people can just stop and listen to something new to them.
Coventry’s Reading Round will be one of a network of only sixteen in the country funded by the Royal Literary Fund in 2024/25, and, unlike other reading groups, there is no homework needed.
The meetings will discover stories and poems for sheer enjoyment, looking at how writers weave their effects.
The Reading Round scheme was set up to create a space where readers can discover original writing and also rediscover the joys of hearing stories and poems in a friendly group.
Runs weekly at Allesley Park Library, starting 7th November, from 12.15 – 1.45pm on Thursdays.
Everyone welcome, but numbers are limited.
Email to reserve your FREE SPACE: wren.james@rlfeducation.org.uk
Find out more about the Reading Round groups and see if there’s one in your area.
Published by Wren James
Wren James is the award-winning British author of eleven science fiction & fantasy novels, including The Quiet at the End of the World and The Next Together (previously published as Lauren James). Their books have sold over 200,000 copies in ten languages, and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe was optioned for film by Amazon MGM.
Wren is a story consultant on Netflix’s Heartstopper, which was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Writing. Also a RLF Royal Fellow, Wren is the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League and member of the Society of Authors’ Sustainability steering Committee. They work as a consultant on climate storytelling with a focus on providing optimism and hope.
They have won the Sustainable Story Award and been shortlisted for the YA Book Prize, Carnegie Medal and STEAM Book Award.
Wren’s writing has been described as ‘gripping romantic sci-fi’ by the Wall Street Journal and ‘a strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water’ by Entertainment Weekly.
Their latest titles are Last Seen Online, a crime thriller set in the world of fandom, and The Victors, a cosy fantasy graphic novel illustrated by Beth Fuller.
Wren was born in 1992, and has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, where they studied Chemistry and Physics. They run a Queer Writers group in Coventry. Follow them on Instagram & TikTok at @wrenjameswriter or find out more at wrenjames.co.uk.
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Wren James 