Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal October 2003 Volume 1 (5)

Endpiece

Shut Up and Read

Colin Will invites info about prison libraries; and offers coaching on public reading skills.

I have to confess I've never read any of Lord Archer's books - the subject matter doesn't appeal to me, so I've never even delved. Maybe I've been missing something, and if so I have to plead that there are lots of good books on the go just now which I find more interesting (Jenny Uglow's The Lunar Men, and Claire Tomalin's biography of Pepys, to name but two). Then again, I was out of the country during the latter part of Lord Archer's trial, and I didn't attempt to catch up with the case when I returned. So on the face of it, you might be surprised that something the porridged baron said recently struck me as thought-provoking and as an issue worth raising.

He was speaking at a public meeting on prison reform, and he mentioned the shocking illiteracy figures for prison inmates. He wondered if an 'enforced literacy' programme might benefit prisoners, and suggested it might go some way towards reducing re-offending. He said, if I remember correctly, that this could lead eventually to a national reduction in our prison population.

I'm not going to argue here the pros and cons of Lord Archer's ideas, but if, as most agree, low levels of literacy are a feature of prison life, then literacy training at all levels is surely something worth promoting. The education system is, I know, committed to raising literacy levels, but in some areas, and for a variety of very valid reasons, it has real difficulties. The dystopic vision appears to be that educational failures can turn into social failures, a proportion of whom offend and are jailed. In the process, low educational and social expectations lead to a feedback loop for future generations, an endlessly repeated cycle of failure, crime and imprisonment.

It occurs to me that I don't know as much about the work of the prison library service as I should. Can an insider tell me what role prison librarians play in encouraging literacy and thereby helping to break the cycle? I would really like to know, and if you'd like to share it with the rest of us in these august pages, so much the better.

Coming back to my literary concerns, I've attended a number of very good readings by a huge variety of writers over the summer. I've also attended readings which were marred by a few bad readers. In the olden days (it's Last of the Summer Wine time again folks), elocution was taught in schools, and the Co-op held festivals where prizes were awarded for singing and elocution. Now I know it's not an essential social skill nowadays, but I still think it's desirable to be able to speak well in public.

For a writer, it's much more than desirable, it's part of the communication process. As you dip your quill in the inkwell of life, and commit your precious thoughts to the unlined pad of posterity, there's usually an inner voice speaking the words aloud (sometimes even spelling them). If the voice is that of some fine actor - Fiona Shaw or Anthony Hopkins maybe - that's all well and good. But if it's your own voice, what then? Do writers listen to themselves speaking? Shometimes, shurely not.

So I'm developing a wee set of coaching tips for novice and other writers who want to improve their public reading skills. Even if you don't write yourself, you might care to mark famous writers using the following pointers:

• Readers should try to make eye contact with audience members. They should attempt to clock all parts of the room - everyone present will believe they've been addressed personally.

• Having said that, they shouldn't get fixated on individuals in an audience - the fanciable, the fidgets, the one whose flies are undone, the scratcher, the sleeper or the cougher. Give them all equal attention (well, maybe not the sleeper).

• Rehearse readings beforehand. The more familiar, the more confident. Poets should know which poems they're going to read next, and where to find them in the book (and where they've left their reading glasses).

• Hand gestures should be used occasionally (George, don't do that) but only when needed for emphasis. Never point at an audience - this is threatening.

• Don't cough, belch or sniffle into a mike - if you feel one of these coming on, turn your head aside.

• Gentleman Poets should trim their beards and moustaches before a reading - it's amazing how much sound (and meaning) can be absorbed in facial hair. Poets who give long introductions to short poems should be taken out and shot. No court will convict - it's justifiable makaricide.

• Don't rush the words - the audience won't get the meaning if it's all jumbled together. And the voice should be varied and, if humanly possible, interesting.

• Watch timing. If there is a fixed time limit, over-running is unfair to those who read afterwards, and the MC will cease to love you.

• Writers should not get drunk before a reading. They may think it improves their performance, but in this respect, as in others, they are wrong.

Colin Will (colin.will@virgin.net)

Information Scotland Vol. 1 (5) October 2003

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