Shared Reading – a Podcast with Derby Book Festival

I’ve been a little quiet on the sound-project front lately… but behind the scenes I’ve been working on a few exciting things. One of the projects I’m especially proud to finally share is the Shared Reading podcast with Derby Book Festival.

As some of you may already know, I previously worked with Derby Book Festival as the Strategic Lead of Shared Reading, so this project is incredibly close to my heart. I truly believe in the work these groups do and the impact they have on people’s lives.

Shared Reading is all about bringing people together through literature. These sessions are designed to help ease feelings of isolation and support wellbeing through the simple joy of reading and listening together. During a session, anything might be shared – poems, short stories, articles, quotes, song lyrics – almost any piece of writing that sparks conversation or reflection. People then come together to discuss what they’ve heard, often leading to beautiful moments of connection, honesty and understanding between people from all walks of life.

Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with the Shared Reading team at Derby Book Festival to recreate some of that magic in podcast form. Just like in a regular Shared Reading group, we gather together to read and talk – only this time, with microphones involved! We invite local authors, poets, readers and Derby Book Festival volunteers into one room to experience a Shared Reading session together, and record it so listeners can join in too.

I’m so pleased to share that the first three episodes are now live.

You can listen here:
A Shared Reading Podcast by Derby Book Festival

I produced, recorded and edited the podcast. The presenters are two wonderful Shared Reading volunteers, Ellie and Steve. It’s been a real team effort, with many members of the Derby Book Festival family helping behind the scenes to bring the series together with Katie championing the whole project, and Scarlett capturing all the fun bits for socials and designing the logo!

The festival is also currently looking for sponsorship support for the podcast. If this is something you or your organisation may be interested in, you can find out more through the festival website:
Derby Book Festival

We’re also currently working on two more episodes, which will be a little different from the first three. These upcoming episodes will focus on the 2026 festival programme taking place across May and June, and will feature a whole host of authors, guests, readers, writers, local creatives and more.

So stay tuned — and if you enjoy the podcast, make sure to follow it on Podbean to be notified when new episodes are released.