Who we are
Still Reading is run by two Irish-based academics, Dr Jane Lugea (Queen’s University Belfast) and Dr Clara Neary (Atlantic Technological University / Queen’s University Belfast).
Background
The idea for the project arose as a result of research carried out on an AHRC-funded project, ‘Dementia in the minds of characters and readers’. Working with colleagues from ARK Ageing Programme, we hosted reading groups to see how reading fiction about dementia might facilitate awareness and understanding in readers. In the spirit of ‘nothing about us, without us’, we also held a reading group with people with dementia, to understand how the fiction related to their lived experiences.
We kept accessibility in mind, working closely with Dementia NI and using DEEP guidelines, to create a method of facilitating reading groups with people with dementia. The upshot was that our readers with dementia loved the opportunity to get back into reading literature, as well as the shared, stimulating conversation the groups provided. Clara and Jane have been running a series of reading groups with Dementia NI members, collaborating on honing the method further. We have also supplemented our skills by training as Reader Leaders through The Reader‘s shared reading programme.
The Still Reading project continues and expands that good work.
Current Trainees
Conor Lawell, Dementia NI
Claire-Rose Canavan, Dementia NI
Rachel Molloy, Dementia NI
Ciarda Martin-Joyce, Dementia NI
Teresa O’Brien, Roscommon Leader Partnership
Hilary Daly, Roscommon County Library
Aisling Neilan-Brennan, Roscommon County Library
Louise Garrett, Western Alzheimer’s
Contact us:
For further details about the project or to get in touch, please contact Sarah-Jane Coyle at scoyle15@qub.ac.uk