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THE 2023 FESTIVAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
21 October - 17 November
FoSS and ESRC logos

The Lockdown Library Project: Reading Habits in the First Lockdown

Lifelong wellbeing theme

What’s on offer?

In this free talk we will share some of the findings from The Lockdown Reading Project, a survey of public reading habits in the first lockdown months of 2020.

What’s it about?

In July 2020, we ran a survey of public reading habits, asking participants to reflect on how the first months of lockdown had impacted on what, how and why they read. Nearly 900 participants took part in what we believe is the only study of reading during the early Covid-19 period.

In this talk we will share some of our findings, specifically focusing on the types of books participants said they were reading, how the demands of home-working and home-schooling affected reading habits and time available to to read, how and why the lockdown period encouraged some participants to re-read their favourite books, how participants accessed and talked about books during the lockdown, and the relationship between lockdown reading and mental health.

Who’s leading the event?

Dr Abigail BoucherLecturer, Languages and Applied Linguistics (ELAL)

Dr Marcello Giovanelli, Reader and Head of English, Languages and Applied Linguistics (ELAL)

Dr Chloe Harrison, Senior Lecturer, Aston Centre for Applied Linguistics (ACAL)

Dr Robbie Love, Senior Lecturer, Aston Centre for Applied Linguistics (ACAL)

Open to

Adults

Of particular interest to

Teachers, librarians, bibliotherapists, anyone interested in reading habits and how these may have changed during the first months of lockdown

Event booking deadline

A week in advance