10/04/2026
This online workshop is the second event in the CCWW series The Business of Women’s Writing and Reading Communities Today.
Speakers will share their experiences of founding and/or coordinating reading groups for adults in person or online, facilitating and promoting reading through social media, and their research on reading communities.
The aim of the workshop is to try to answer the following questions:
How do different communities read? How have social media affected reading communities and reading habits? What are the gender dynamics of online and in-person reading communities and how do they influence reading choices and habits?
Speakers include:
Prof. Jenny Hartley OBE, Emeritus Professor, co-founder of Prison Reading Groups (PRG), and author of The Reading Groups Book (OUP, 2003).
Helen Patuck, Writer and illustrator, working at the intersection of storytelling, translation, and community practice. Founder of 'Kitabana - Our Book', and ILCS Creative Practitioner in Residence.
Eithne McCarthy Bowen, Manager of Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, Trinity College Dublin, and Coordinator of the Centre’s Book Club.
Prof. Francesca Calamita, Associate Professor, University of Virginia, USA & Visiting Professor, UniStrasi Siena, Italy . Author of Ti trovo cambiata (Enciclopedia delle Donne, 2026), a book about Italian women today based on 400 interviews that explore, among other things, what they read.
Dr Serena Todesco, Independent researcher and co-organiser, with Alessandra Trevisan, of the CCWW seminar series The Grain of her Voice. Women Writers and Literary Podcasts: Critical Functions and Cultural Impacts (October-November 2025).
Dr Alessandra Trevisan, Independent researcher and co-founder of Le Ortique, an online initiative born during the Covid-19 pandemic with the aim of rediscovering and promoting reading of forgotten women artists. Co-organiser, with Serena Todesco, of the CCWW series The Grain of her Voice (see above).
Viviana Fiorentino, Writer, translator, and co-founder of Le Ortique (see above). She is a board member of the Irish PEN.
Natascha Lusenti, Rai Radio2 speaker, journalist, author, and TV host.
This workshop will be followed by a second one on 18 September 2026 aimed at answering similar questions about reading communities for children and young adults.
The workshop is open to all and free of charge. Please register by clicking Book Now at the top of the page for your free place and to obtain the Zoom link.
Programme
15:00 – 15:05: Welcome and Introductions
15:05 – 15:20: Prof. Jenny Hartley OBE, Prison Reading Groups
15:20 – 15:35: Helen Patuck, Somewhere between solitude and solidarity: reading spaces as frameworks of care in literary, feminist, LGBTQ+ and displacement contexts
15:35 – 15:50: Eithne McCarthy Bowen, Reading the World: Fiction in Translation
15:50 – 16:05: Prof. Francesca Calamita, What do Italian women currently read? An analysis of data from Ti trovo cambiata (2026)
16:05 – 16:35
Dr Serena Todesco and Dr Alessandra Trevisan, Conclusions from the CCWW seminar series The Grain of her Voice. Women Writers and Literary Podcasts: Critical Functions and Cultural Impacts (October-November 2025).
Viviana Fiorentino, Reinventing a readership for forgotten female writers: Freda Laughton in translation.
Natascha Lusenti,Mother and daughter: a polyphonic personal and literary podcast narrative
16:35 – 17:00: Q&A and discussions
Organisers: Dr Sandra Daroczi (University of Bath), Dr Adalgisa Giorgio (University of Bath and CCWW-ILCS), and Prof. Claire Williams (University of Oxford)
Supported by the John Coffin Memorial Trust Fund.
Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women’s Writing This online workshop is the second event in the CCWW series The Business of Women’s Writing and Reading Communities Today. Speakers will share their experiences of founding and/or coordinating reading groups for adults in person or online,...
