PhDs and Lecturers on Reading for Pleasure, Growth, and Inspiration
Ian Kinane, hosts a panel with faculty and grad students on the topic of reading for pleasure. They talk about the difficulty of balancing types of reading, the impact of the reading format, the importance of recommendations and community, the cross-pollination of reading with creation, and much more...
National Year of Reading [https://literacytrust.org.uk/about-us/national-year-of-reading-2026/].
In order of mention:
* The National Community of Researchers in Children’s Literature (NCRCL) [https://ncrcl.wordpress.com/about/]
* Roehampton’s MA Children Literature [https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught-courses/childrens-literature-distance-learning/] (distance learning)
* James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81959.As_a_Man_Thinketh]
* James Clear’s Atomic Habits [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits]
* Charlie Mackes’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43708884-the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse]
* Benjamin Myers’s The Gallows Pool [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/31325980-the-gallows-pole]
* MyNoise [https://mynoise.net/] for ambient sounds - no adblocker needed (Will’s recommendation)
* Emma Brodzinksi [https://thephdliferaft.com/] (of PhD Life Raft fame) has a book club
* Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453082-big-magic]
* Norman Vincent Peale’s You can if you think you can [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13472]
* Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering The Craft [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68024.Steering_the_Craft]
* Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13651.The_Dispossessed]
* R.F. Kuang’s Babel [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57945316-babel]
* Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70947.Northern_Lights]
Chapters:
00:09 – Introduction
00:39 – Lisa Sainsbury on reading and community
03:35 – Louistas Nyuyse on his reading journey
05:40 - Reading on paper, on screen, in audio? (Louistas)
06:12 - Cristina Motoca on reading habits
09:34 - Benoît André on balancing reading with the rest
11:40 – Crafting reading routines
17:53 – Reading, music and sound
18:36 – Cristina's recommendations
21:01 – Louistas's recommendations
22:34 – Benoit's recommendations
25:46 – Lisa's recommendations
27:50 - Benoît on reading as inspiration
Host
Ian Kinane is Reader in Literature and Popular Culture and Director of the Centre for Society, Culture, and Social Change at the University of Roehampton, London. His books include Bisexuality and Popular Culture (2026), On the Very Edge: Bidentities in Michelle Cliff’s Fiction (2024), Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence (2021), Isn’t it Ironic?: Irony in Contemporary Popular Culture (2021), Didactics and the Modern Robinsonade (2019), TheorisingLiterary Islands (2016), and (with Downey and Parker) Landscapes of Liminality: Between Space and Place (2016). Ian is also the general editor of the online, open-access International Journal of James Bond Studies and the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Ian Fleming.
Guest Speakers
Lisa Sainsbury is Associate Professor of Children’s Literature in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Roehampton. She is Series Editor of Bloomsbury’s Perspectives on Children’s Literature and Chair of the National Community of Researchers in Children’s Literature. Her ongoing research focusses on the philosophical remit of children’s books, as explored in her monographs Ethics in British Children’s Literature: Unexamined Life (Bloomsbury: 2013) and Metaphysics of Children’s Literature: Climbing Fuzzy Mountains (Bloomsbury: 2021).
Louistas Nyuyse is a UK-based healthcare lecturer, transformational career coach, and AI strategist with over two decades of experience in emergency nursing, education, and personal development. He specialises in purpose-driven careers, digital innovation in healthcare, and the application of artificial intelligence to enhance wellbeing, learning, and human potential.
Cristina Motoca is a part-time PhD (Prof) Education research student at the University of Roehampton. Her research explores how policies on the early years workforce are developed and implemented, and whether there may be a disconnect between policy intentions and the practical realities. With over a decade of leadership experience, she represents the private and voluntary sector (PVI) in Wandsworth through the Education Advisory Strategy Group.
Benoît André is a composer, researcher, sound designer, and audio editor based in London, UK. He is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Roehampton in the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. He is exploring narratives of flood-affected communities through sound.
