Beyond Words is excited to share that, thanks to a generous new award from The National Lottery’s Community Fund, we will be starting an ambitious new project to create 300 life-changing book clubs across the country.
Our Book Club in a Box project is the start of making our book clubs as accessible to create as they are to join. We know lots of people love our book clubs and want to bring them to a library, community space or group near them but aren’t sure where to begin. To help, we’ll be creating a book club starter kit featuring everything they need – from books to posters to start-up guides, as well as personal help from our small team – that can be posted out anywhere in the country.
Beyond Words book clubs change lives. By putting our word-free picture books in the hands of people with learning disabilities, dementia, refugees and others who find written language challenging, we empower them to tell stories in their own words. Book clubs are spaces in which people make friends, have fun and talk about the issues that affect their lives. For people whose voices are often spoken over, enabling them to tell their own stories on their own terms is incredibly powerful.
We’ll be working hard on our Book Club in a Box project over the coming months and we look forward to sharing our progress with you as we develop and launch our project. Make sure you receive all the latest updates by signing up to our monthly newsletter.
A huge thank you to The National Lottery Community Fund for their generous funding of this project.
National Lottery Community Fund award sets off new Beyond Words project