The Word’s the Thing - National Year of Reading - free taster of poems, tales and non-fiction

A free taster of poems, tales and non-fiction just for us: The Word’s the Thing What is it? - One part of Birmingham’s contribution to 2008 as the national Year of Reading is to encourage large numbers of people to read similar things. It then becomes much easier for them to have some ‘reading in common’ to talk about/to be part of a unique set of conversations across the city and beyond. A number of new poems and very short fictional ‘tales’ have been written especially for this purpose. These have been donated, to be freely distributed as widely as possible to people in Birmingham and beyond. The poems: These were written in deliberate attempts to cover a range of lengths and styles. Some are meant to be taken quite lightly; others are meant to be lingered over. The people involved in bringing these poems together have donated them for use in the Year of Reading in Birmingham. There is the possibility of using further ‘episodes’ as triggers to gather in other poems written in 2008 by people living or working in Birmingham. The tales: These are (fictional) stories told to an imaginary researcher. They capture fragments of the lives of each narrator. The ‘tales’ are being brought together as an imagined account of social research but, in the meantime, a selection have been donated to Birmingham’s 2008 Year of Reading activities. As more ‘episodes’ come out, it will be interesting to know what your views are of the lives described, but for now why not simply read them and talk to others about what you have read. How widely can it go? We hope that you enjoy reading them; discover something to think/talk about; and that you will want to share them with others in Birmingham or elsewhere. What’s next? We hope that people will read the poems, read the tales, check out the non-fiction bit – and want to read more. Certainly the people who ‘road tested’ this for us were very enthusiastic. Six further ‘episodes’ will be coming out at around monthly intervals from April 2008. Read the poems/tales etc and if you want to receive the six further episodes all you need to do is register your email address at www.thewordsthething.org.uk and you will be sent emails as each episode is ready.