“Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present,” a one-day academic conference in the history of reading, will take place at the Institute of English Studies, Senate House, University of London, on September 15, 2016. This conference forms part of The Open University’s AHRC-funded “Reading Communities” project, a one-year public engagement project following on from the Reading Experience Database project. It will feature a keynote address from Professor Simon Eliot (University of London), as well as panels and papers on a range of topics, including the reading practices of Victorian school children, literacy and national identity in Ireland, the reconstruction of library and book club reading communities, and the intersections of oral history and the history of reading. The full programme can be found here.
To pre-register, please contact the conference team at readingcommunities@gmail.com by September 9, 2016. The conference is free to attend; however we would strongly encourage you to pre-register beforehand for catering purposes. Registration will take place on the day in the Jessel Room, Senate House, from 9:30–10:30 am. The conference will conclude with an evening drinks reception.