Challenging and Developing a Book Club

The Ennis Book Club Festival and Clare Library present a half-day workshop with Anne Downes on Friday 5th March 2010 from 2.00 – 4.30 pm at the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis. This workshop is designed for library staff who are members of a book club, organise or facilitate a group, or are thinking of starting one. A book club that meets regularly needs refreshing with new ideas and new members if it is to thrive. This workshop looks at practical ways to do that. We’ll try out games, discussions and exercises that will challenge a group to engage more deeply with a book and each other as readers. We’ll share examples of how a group can contribute to the library that hosts it and how a group might nurture new writers. Above all, a book club is social, so the workshop will also look at things that you can do to make it comfortable for everyone to contribute and get the most from being a member. The workshop is FREE to library staff nationwide but places are limited and bookings will be on a first-come, first-served basis. To reserve a place contact Frances O’Gorman, Clare Library HQ., Mill Road, Ennis. Tel 087 2262259 or email frances.ogorman@clarelibrary.ie. Festival details at www.ennisbookclubfestival.com. Anne Downes is the Training Director of Opening the Book, the company that pioneered the reader-centred approach to starting and running readers’ groups and developed the Reading Group Toolbox in partnership with Waterstone’s in the UK. Anne trains and supports co-ordinators on the Frontline course that is used throughout libraries in Ireland.