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Introducing our new Reading Round Fellows

Montage of Reading Round Fellows for 2024
  • 6 August, 2024

Pictured above, our new Reading Round Fellows for 2024. Clockwise, left to right: Zebib Abraham, Jasbinder Bilan, Mark Blayney, Ishy Din, Sonia Faleiro, Maggie Harris, Wren James, Peter Kalu.

Allow us to introduce you to the 16 RLF writers who will be leading our Reading Round groups, beginning this September across the UK.

The RLF’s Reading Round is series of community reading groups led by professional writers, known as Fellows.

Reading Round groups are open to any member of the public who would love to explore and discuss great literature in the company of others. No qualifications of any kind are required, except an open mind, and a willingness to listen to others and share ideas.

I enjoy hearing the variety of viewpoints, the back and forth of floating ideas.

Reading Round participant

Our Reading Round Fellows for 2024. Clockwise, from left to right: Majorie Lofti, Felicity McCall, David Mark, Anthony J Quinn, Leila Rasheed, Pauline Rowe, Sara Shaarawari, Anna Wilson.

More of our Reading Round Fellows for 2024. Clockwise, from left to right: Marjorie Lofti, Felicity McCall, David Mark, Anthony J Quinn, Leila Rasheed, Pauline Rowe, Sara Shaarawi, Anna Wilson.

Reading Round groups run from September until June, and typically include 30 sessions. In each session, the Fellow will select two pieces of writing, usually a short story and a poem, to read aloud to the group. Everyone is given a copy, but there’s no preparation and no homework, meaning each member of the group has an equal voice during the discussion about the meaning and effect of the writing.

You can find our new Reading Round Fellows at the following locations across the UK:

Zebib K. Abraham in Edinburgh; Jasbinder Bilan in Bath, Somerset; Mark Blayney in Cardiff; Ishy Din in Middlesborough; Sonia Faleiro in South London; Maggie Harris in Kent; Wren James in Allesley, Coventry; Peter Kalu in Manchester; Marjorie Lotfi in Newton Stewart, Scotland; Felicity McCall in Derry City, North West Ireland; David Mark in Hexham, Northumberland; Anthony J Quinn in Country Tyrone, Northern Ireland; Leila Rasheed in Birmingham; Pauline Rowe in Liverpool; Sara Shaarawi in Glasgow; and Anna Wilson in Penzance, West Cornwall.

You can watch our video about Reading Round to see what previous participants have said about our programme. If you’re interested in joining, get in touch with the Fellow running your nearest group.


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