SHARED READING
Shared reading is a way of enjoying literature by reading it aloud in a small group. A trained facilitator reads and facilitates each reading session, inviting personal responses to the text as the reading progresses. Shared reading has many benefits; it increases perspective, develops empathy, improves confidence, decreases isolation, and builds community. It is especially helpful in restricted environments like prisons, hospitals, and forensic mental health settings. It can also be a useful resource as part of perpetrator behavioural programmes where it can be used to invite reflection and promote understanding, particularly around the impact of abusive behaviours.
A selection of my work in this area is outlined below with links to key publications
BOOKS
(2026: in press) Reading in Prison: From Literature to Life. London: Palgrave.
My forthcoming book showcases the value of shared reading in a Belfast prison with female prisoners. It explores the relationship between style in fiction and how prisoners respond to and engage with the text. At the same time, it makes a case for embedding shared reading in restricted environments as a purposeful and holistically powerful wellbeing resource.
ARTICLES & BOOK CHAPTERS
(2020) "'I loved the stories, they weren't boring": Narrative Gaps, the disnarrated, and the significance of style in prison reading groups', in The Edinburgh History of Reading: A World Survey from Antiquity to the Present (eds), Mary Hammond and Jonathan Rose. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 333–350.
(2017) [with Sara Whiteley]. Editor of Special Issue on Reader Response. Language and Literature 26(2)
(2017) [with Sara Whiteley] ‘Reader response research in stylistics’, Language and Literature (special issue) 26(2): 71–87
(2017) “Text-World Theory and Real World Readers in Prison Reading Groups”, Language and Literature (special issue) 26(2): 172–187
(2012): “Poetic Justice: A Narrative of Belfast Breakthroughs”, The Reader, 48: 59–65
INVITED KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS & CONFERENCE PAPERS
(2026) ‘Reading in Prison’. Poetics and Linguistics Association, annual conference, Uppsala, Sweden.
(2021): 'Drawing on a blank: Reading in Prison’, London Stylistics Circle.
(2015): ‘Why Reading Matters’. An interactive presentation for the students and faculty of the primary and middle years' programmes (PYP, MYP), The International School, Utrecht.
(2013): ‘Reading For Life’. Plenary speaker at annual Ennis Book Club Festival in County Clare, Ireland.
(2012): ‘Get Into Reading’. Plenary speaker at Triangle Housing Association (Belfast, NI) annual staff conference, ‘Living Giving, and Learning Plan’.
(2012): ‘Reading For Wellbeing’. Plenary Speaker at ‘Health In Mind’ annual event (World Mental Health Day) at Finaghy Library, Belfast, NI.
(2012): ‘Poetry and Prose’. Speaker at ‘Health In Mind’ event on the benefits of shared reading, Coleraine Library, County Antrim, NI.