Reading Rooms: Fostering Constructive and Inclusive Dialogue Between Communities

Abstract

This report provides the findings from an inter-disciplinary project that sought to investigate and advance the potential of shared reading groups to promote purposeful and meaningful dialogue among Northern Ireland interface communities. Trinity College Dublin partnered with Verbal, a voluntary organisation with nearly 30 years’ experience working to improve cross-community relations in Northern Ireland. The project aimed to design a new framework and identify suitable literary texts for cross-community groups; conduct a pilot shared reading group; seek feedback from participants on group processes in relation to health and well-being, literary texts, and shared futures; and present findings in a report.