Get Reading with Radius on World Book Day

Press Release - 3rd March 2021

From fairy tales to magical mysteries, Radius Housing is encouraging readers of all ages to pick up a book and let their imagination run wild on World Book Day (Thursday 4th March). To help young people along with this, Radius has teamed up with theatre group Commedia of Errors to produce three special theatrical readings of some famous stories.

And to help ‘Radius Readers’ get creative, Radius is also launching two competitions - a story writing competition and a World Book Day Dressing Up Competition, with special prizes for the best efforts.

The Radius programmes aim to support the World Book Day goal of encouraging people to broaden their horizons through reading, They are funded through the Department for Communities ‘Housing for All’ Shared Housing Programme which has its origins in the NI Executive T:buc strategy.

The three special story readings, which will be available on the Radius YouTube page on World Book Day, are Little Red Riding Hood for pre-school children, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling for Primary School children and Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights for those in Secondary School, and adults are encouraged to join in too. Commedia of Errors will also hold unique workshops after each reading to teach viewers how they can create their own stories.

Radius is hoping the theatrical reading and the storytelling techniques will inspire children, young people and the young at heart to get creative and enter the competitions. The Dressing Up competition is open to entries of all kinds, from Harry Potter lookalikes to the fairies and princesses from fairy tales. Some of the ‘Radius Readers’ can become ‘Radius Writers’ by entering the short story writing competition.

Speaking ahead of World Book Day Loma Wilson, Director of Communities with Radius Housing said “Books give us all a means of escaping into our imagination and experiencing great adventures alongside the characters on the pages. Right now, a little bit of escapism is welcome and we all know the power of storytelling to break down barriers across cultures and divisions. We hope that we can encourage people to embark on a collective journey of creativity with us on World Book Day.

“Commedia of Errors have brought excitement and fun to the three readings, and they can even inspire us to share our own stories. We know that this will help turn our Radius Readers into Radius Writers as they pen their own stories, or enjoy dressing up as their favourite character from their favourite book.”

The World Book Day readings will be posted on Radius Housing’s YouTube page at 9am on World Book Day (4th March), as well as on their Facebook and Twitter pages. Full details of the categories and prizes for the Short Story Writing and Dressing up competitions can be found on the Radius website - www.radiushousing.org.

ENDS

Further information:

Brendan Scott

MW Advocate

07834422923

brendan.scott@mwadvocate.com