The formidable Opening the Book team
My first visit in my Cities of Literature travels was to the swish new Opening the Book office in Ponefract, Yorkshire. I had a lively and inspiring discussion about audience development for literature with Opening the Book’s Director Rachel Van Riel, Anne Downes and Fiona Edwards. Opening the Book are pioneers in reader development and have extensive knowledge and experience in this area.
Rachel, Anne and Fiona believe that the essence of audience development for literature, or any art form, is to start with the audience. Sounds obvious but so often audience development is done by people planning events and programs rather than the audience themselves.
The key aspects we discussed were:
• Audience development can be widening (engaging new audiences) or deepening (enriching the experience for existing audiences)
• The arc of audience engagement. This concept is used more in theatre but can also be applied to audiences for literary events. It is the way audiences interact with a production each step of the way to enhance their experience. Libraries are well placed to do this because of their special relationship with their readers.
• Targeting. By being broad and general, you end up appealing to no one in particular. Start small rather than big. Begin with an audience sector (e.g. 18-25 year olds, a cultural group) and plan a program based on their needs.
• Many writers don’t think of their audience when writing but, when they do get the chance to engage with readers, they gain fascinating insights. What makes the reader read on? At which point did they put down a book?
• Public libraries are well-placed to be the ultimate art form developer. We can offer audiences exposure to lesser-known work such as writing in translation or self published writing… all at no cost.
We also discussed reader engagement ideas that could work well in Melbourne. These included:
• A program to link readers in cities of literature all over the world. Readers choose books set in their cities to recommend to others. They come up with a one line ‘zinger’ about why the book captures the essence of where they live.
• Programs that link Melbourne’s food culture to reading. Books that are spicy, sweet, sour, bitter. A tasting menu of books to offer an introduction to different cultures. As Rachel said, “A good reader is willing to try new flavours; a good writer makes anything palatable.”
• Engage new migrants by going out and talking to existing groups about books that could interest them. Follow this up with a VIP tour of the library, especially for them.
• For every 100 people that live in the City of Melbourne, 700 come into the city each day to work, study or play. A reader program to engage commuters could help alleviate the daily tedium of the journey to or from work.
Finally, I asked Rachel, Anne and Fiona to recommend their favourite books, set in Yorkshire, to Melbourne readers. In no particular order, they are:
All points north and Walking home: travels with a troubadour on the Pennine way Simon Armitage
God’s own country Ross Raisin
Talking myself home Ian Mcmillan
Behind the scenes at the museum Kate Atkinson
Beastings Benjamin Myers
Classic: The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman Laurence Sterne
Other favourite Yorkshire writers:
Joanne Harris
Helen Fielding
Alan Bennett
Ted Hughes
Sylvia Plath (honorary, buried in Yorkshire)
Margaret Drabble
AS Byatt
Winifred Holtby
WH Auden
Which of the programs to engage readers do you think would work best in Melbourne?
shirleybateman 