For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we’re giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.
In this episode we are joined by Imogen Bond from EmpathyLab
EmpathyLab develops, activates, and celebrates the power of stories to increase real-life empathy. Through reading, they help children and young people understand others, grow emotionally, and thrive. Through free events and resources to school programmes and learning webinars, EmpathyLab offers the tools to turn empathy into action. Look out for their Empathy Day Festival running 4-11 June 2026.
Katy
0:11
Hi,
I'm
Katy.
I'm
Ali,
and
welcome
to
Mostly
Book
Talk.
This
episode
is
part
of
our
series
of
short
episodes
about
charities
and
what
they're
doing
in
the
national
year
of
reading.
Ali
0:21
And
in
this
episode,
we
welcome
Imogen
Bond,
who's
the
managing
director
of
Empathy
Lab.
Ali
0:29
We
are
delighted
to
welcome
Imogen
Bond,
Managing
Director
of
Empathy
Lab,
to
Mostly
Book
Talk.
Our
first
question
is
tell
us
a
bit
about
Empathy
Lab
and
what
it
is.
Imogen
0:40
We've
been
going
for
10
years
now.
We
just
had
our
10th
birthday
last
year,
and
we
exist
to
celebrate
and
activate
and
help
everybody
understand
the
way
in
which
books
and
stories
can
develop
our
empathy
skills.
We
work
with
schools,
libraries,
parents,
and
we
have
a
number
of
different
programs
that
mean
that
we
can
share
training
with
the
adults
that
work
with
children
and
young
people,
live
and
work
with
them,
so
that
they
can
really
understand
the
brain
science
of
how
our
brains
are
impacted
by
books
and
the
psychology
and
neuroscience
evidence
that
there
is
to
show
how
books
can
really
develop
our
real
life
empathy,
and
then
turn
that
into
really
practical
everyday
tools
that
they
can
use
in
the
classroom
or
at
home
or
in
their
library
or
bookshop
to
help
young
people
to
develop
those
really
human
skills
of
understanding
others,
even
when
we
don't
always
agree,
especially
when
we
don't
always
agree,
understanding
their
own
thoughts
and
feelings,
being
able
to
untangle
those
and
taking
the
perspectives
of
others
so
that
really
we
can
use
stories
to
make
real
world
change.
That's
what
we're
doing.
Ali
1:58
And
is
that
CPD
for
teachers?
Is
it
in
that
kind
of
form
rather
than
working
directly
with
schools?
Imogen
2:06
Yeah,
so
predominantly
we
work
with
adults
to
enable
them
to
develop
their
ways
of
working.
So
we
have
a
CBD
program,
but
it's
more
like
a
kind
of
whole
school
approach
that
we
take.
So
we
enable
schools
to
embed
empathy
as
a
core
skill,
as
a
core
value
within
their
skill
that
they
practice
through
reading
and
use
of
stories.
So
that's
our
sort
of
predominant
work,
the
way
that
we
work
with
schools
to
do
that.
So
we
train
teachers,
we
train
senior
leaders
in
schools
to
help
them
think
about
this
as
a
whole
school
approach.
How
do
they
use
diverse,
really
high-quality
literature
across
their
curriculum,
but
also
to
think
about
how
they
might
bring
families
and
their
links
socially
in
their
local
community
into
that
understanding
of
how
stories
can
change
things
in
real
life
as
well.
So,
yeah,
predominantly
it's
kind
of
CPD
for
adults,
but
then
we
also
have
a
big
free
program
that
happens
every
year
in
the
summer.
So
we
have
the
Empathy
Day
Festival,
and
that's
our
big
child-facing
free
event.
So
schools,
libraries,
families,
bookshops,
anywhere
where
children
and
stories
come
together
can
get
involved
in
that,
and
that's
lots
of
resources
to
use
with
children
directly.
So
whether
they're
activity
sheets
and
practical
activities
that
are
creative
and
use
stories,
or
whether
it's
little
author
films
that
we
produce
or
live
events
with
authors,
we
just
are
encouraging
everybody
in
June
through
that
week
to
ge t
involved,
jump
into
someone
else's
story,
and
really
explore
the
power
of
reading
to
change
the
real
world.
Ali
3:49
Yeah,
and
it's
still
called
Empathy
Day,
isn't
it?
But
it's
the
kind
of
week
now.
Imogen
3:52
Yeah,
exactly.
It's
Empathy
Day,
which
this
year
is
on
the
11th
of
June,
but
we
are
celebrating
that
for
a
week
in
the
run-up
to
it.
So
that's
why
it's
a
festival,
because
there's
all
sorts
of
things
taking
place
across
Ali
4:05
that's
really
cool.
Katy
4:06
And
is
that
primary
and
secondary?
What
age
group
does
it
cover?
Imogen
4:10
Everybody.
So
we
suggest
from
three
upwards
we
do
some
early
years
work
and
we've
got
an
early
years
toolkit
for
that
as
well.
But
primary,
secondary,
and
anybody
really
can
get
involved.
There's
no
cut-off
age
limit.
I
think
it's
still
just
as
important.
Empathy
skill
is
an
ongoing
practice,
nobody's
perfect
at
it.
So
we
can
all
always
do
our
best
to
develop
our
empathy
skill,
whatever
our
age.
So
intergenerational,
I
would
say.
Katy
4:39
And
you
have
lists,
don't
you,
of
books
that
you
recommend
each
year.
How
do
you
come
up
with
those
lists
and
how
do
you
anticipate
those
being
used?
Imogen
4:47
Yeah,
our
other
core
programme
is
the
Read
for
Empathy
Collection.
So
we
produce
that
every
February,
and
this
year
it
was
65
titles
for
suitable
for
all
ages,
from
three
to
16
plus.
It's
diverse
in
every
way
you
can
imagine
from
across
all
genres,
including
non-fiction,
poetry,
graphics,
as
well
as
diverse
in
terms
of
author,
but
also
in
terms
of
theme
and
the
way
the
things
that
the
books
explore.
So
we're
trying
to
give
a
really
practical
resource
for
the
adults
living
and
working
with
children
to
find
empathy-rich
books.
So
any
book
could
be
an
empathy-building
book
used
in
the
right
way.
Little
Red
Riding
Hood
can
be
empathy
building,
but
there
are
texts
because
of
the
quality
of
the
writing
and
because
of
the
diversity
of
the
breadth
of
rich
theme
that
it
might
offer,
they
can
be
really
specifically
used
for
particular
empathy-building
skills.
So
that
might
be
in
the
way
that
it
might
cover
a
topic
that's
not
talked
about
so
much
through
children's
literature.
So,
like
one
of
the
books
on
the
on
the
list
this
year
is
a
book
from
Barrington
Stoke
called
Jelly
Bean,
which
is
about
a
school
refuser,
and
it's
told
from
her
point
of
view.
There's
not
many
books
out
there
for
that,
but
it's
such
an
important
topic,
and
important
that
young
people
can,
if
they
are
in
that
situation
themselves,
that
they
can
see
themselves
in
that
book,
and
it
might
help
them
untangle
some
of
their
own
complicated
feelings
around
that.
But
also,
maybe
the
adults,
the
teachers
who
are
dealing
with
children
who
are
school
refusing,
can
maybe
get
an
insight
into
how
that
feels
from
the
other
side
of
it.
So
books
like
that,
we'd
want
to
highlight
the
ones
that
you
know
could
be
used
in
a
particular
circumstance,
but
really
we're
looking
for
brilliant,
diverse,
excellent
quality
writing
with
really
richly
drawn
characters.
So
we
work
with
the
publishers
to
collate
that
list
together,
and
then
we
use
it
as
the
backbone
of
our
year.
So
all
of
the
work
that
we
do
with
schools,
all
of
the
work
that
we
do
with
libraries
and
our
training
all
comes
from
that
collection
of
books.
Ali
7:02
Great.
That's
really
interesting.
So
are
you
doing
anything
specific
for
the
National
Year
of
Reading?
Imogen
7:08
Yeah,
so
our
big
kind
of
collaboration
with
the
National
Year
of
Reading
is
happening
during
the
Empathy
Day
Festival.
You
might
have
heard
of
the
Big
Lunch.
That
is
something
that
the
Eden
Project
and
their
partners
have
run
every
year,
and
it's
an
opportunity
for
communities
to
come
together
and
share
food
and
join
together
and
find
out
a
bit
more
about
each
other.
And
so
this
year,
working
with
the
National
Year
of
Reading
and
with
the
Big
Lunch
and
the
Big
Do,
we're
all
joining
forces
to
invite
communities
wherever,
you
know,
whether
you're
a
school,
a
library,
a
bookshop,
a
community
centre,
on
your
street
with
your
neighbours
to
come
together,
enjoy
a
big
lunch,
and
whilst
you're
doing
that,
jump
into
someone
else's
story
and
get
to
know
the
people
around
you
a
bit
better.
So
at
Empathy
Lab,
we're
producing
a
whole
load
of
resources
for
that,
which
will
be
about
prompting
empathy
chats
with
each
other
so
that
you
can
get
to
know
your
fellow
lunchers
really
well.
And
those
are
written
by
children
from
all
across
the
country.
And
really
brilliant
questions
to
get
to
know
people
in
a
deeper
way.
But
we
also
have
got
some
book
and
story
recommendations.
So
some
of
those
will
be
book
titles,
but
some
of
those
will
be
free
short
stories
that
we
call
the
empathy
shorts
that
are
written
for
us
as
empathy-rich
500-word
stories
that
are
just
sit
on
our
website
and
are
free
to
use.
And
there'll
be
all
sorts
of
other
kind
of
creative
resources
to
use
at
your
big
lunch
event.
So
it's
a
great
opportunity
to
bring
your
community
together,
get
to
know
each
other,
share
stories
together.
Ali
8:48
And
will
those
resources
be
on
the
big
lunch
as
well
as
Empathy
Lab?
Imogen
8:52
Yeah,
so
it's
a
big
collaboration.
So
it
sits
as
one
of
our
challenge
activities
within
the
Empathy
Day
Festival.
So
you
can
either
get
everything
you
need
through
us,
or
you
can
go
to
the
big
lunch
and
download
their
resources
and
get
the
same
pack
via
them.
So
it's
a
sort
of
interlinked
way
of
working.
Well
done.
Yeah,
brilliant.
Katy
9:13
And
what
date
is
that?
So
is
there
a
specific
date
for
it?
What
date
is
that?
Imogen
9:17
It's
the
5th
to
the
8th
of
June.
So
it's
right
in
the
middle
of
the
Empathy
Day
Festival,
which
is
4th
to
the
11th
of
June.
So
it's
that
middle
weekend.
So,
you
know,
anybody
interested
in
reading
and
stories,
bring
your
folk
together,
share
stories,
have
a
lovely
time.
And
it
doesn't
have
to
be
a
lunch.
You
can
do
a
picnic
and
get
everyone
to
bring
their
own
sandwich
or
do
squash
and
biscuits
or
tea
and
cake
or
whatever
you
want
to
do.
There's
no
rules.
It's
just
a
great
way
to
bring
folk
together
who
you
might
not
normally
spend
that
much
time
with
or
get
to
know
that
well.
But
share
a
story
together,
share
some
food,
have
a
fun
time
and
see
what
happens.
Ali
9:55
That's
interesting
because
one
of
our
questions
was
how
do
people
join
in?
Yes.
It's
a
really
great
way
to
join
in.
Imogen
10:01
It's
a
really
great
way
to
join
in,
and
I
think
it's
a
perfect
way
for
organizations
to
organise
between
them
internally,
and
maybe
invite
families
in,
but
schools,
libraries,
bookshops,
community
centres,
anyone.
I'm
gonna
try
and
do
one
on
my
street.
It'll
be
fun.
Who
knows
who'll
turn
up,
but
we'll
get
some
story
sharing
going
on,
so
that'll
be
really
nice.
Ali
10:22
Yeah,
I
was
thinking
that
as
well.
We
normally
once
a
year
try
and
deal
with
a
street
party,
but
no
one's
organised
anything
yet.
So
maybe
that's
the
weekend
to
do
it.
Imogen
10:29
Yeah,
here
you
go.
That's
your
reason
to
get
together,
support
the
National
Year
of
Reading,
and
take
part
that
way.
Yeah,
you
could
do
book
swaps
and
everything,
couldn't
you?
Really,
so
much
fun.
Katy
10:40
Yeah.
No,
that
would
be
good.
And
in
terms
of
the
empathy
festival,
how
do
people
get
involved
in
that?
Where
do
they
find
that?
Imogen
10:48
It's
just
on
our
website
or
via
our
social
media.
So
they
just
have
a
look
on
there.
They
need
to
register
to
access
everything.
But
if
you
register
now,
it's
totally
free
to
take
part
and
get
access.
But
register
now
and
you
can
get
the
toolkit
already,
and
then
after
Easter,
we'll
have
all
of
our
activity
printable
resource
ready
to
go.
And
then
from
the
18th
of
May,
you'll
be
able
to
get
hold
of
all
of
our
digital
content.
So
we're
making,
I
think
it's
10,
maybe
10
on-demand
films
that
you
can
use
during
the
festival
or
any
time
you
wish,
because
empathy
is
for
life,
not
just
for
the
festival.
So
once
you've
got
the
hold
of
the
resource,
people
are
really
welcome
to
use
it
however
they
want
to,
but
we
just
ask
that
they
register.
But
we've
got
loads
of
brilliant
author
films.
We've
just
announced
our
lineup.
We've
got
some
really
great
live
events
with
people
like
Louis
Stoll
and
oh,
all
names
will
go
out
of
my
head
now.
But
some
really
SF
Said,
all
sorts
of
really
brilliant
people.
But
we've
got
a
fantastic
lineup.
And
yeah,
have
a
look
because
there's
something
for
everyone
in
there
for
all
ages,
but
it's
all
about
connection.
So
jumping
into
someone
else's
story
to
connect,
understand
yourself
better,
understand
somebody
else,
do
something
for
people
and
planet,
make
a
change.
So
that's
what
we're
doing.
Ali
12:09
Sounds
great.
All
the
stuff
about
connecting
and
sharing
stories
is
great,
but
is
there
research
behind
the
reason
why
empathy
is
at
the
heart
of
the
work
you
that
you
do?
Imogen
12:19
Yeah,
there
is.
We
were
really
lucky
actually.
Over
the
last
10
years,
we've
been
working
with
Professor
Robin
Bannerjee,
who's
a
psychology
professor
from
the
University
of
Sussex,
and
we've
been
working
with
him
for
10
years.
But
last
year,
they
this
his
team
at
Sussex
brought
out
a
really
brilliant
new
study,
and
they
had
been
working,
it's
the
first
longitudinal
study
of
its
kind
to
be
done
in
UK
primary
schools.
So
it
was
a
quite
a
groundbreaking
thing
that
they
did,
and
we
worked
with
them
on
that
and
to
share
the
evidence
from
it
as
well.
So
what
that
study
showed,
it
was
called
the
Reading
Feelings
Project.
And
what
they
did
was
they
went
into
primary
schools
and
they
measured
how
they
wanted
to
look,
first
of
all,
at
how
empathy
is
built
through
reading.
So
they
were
looking
at
specific,
there
are
different
kinds
of
empathy.
There's
our
affective
empathy,
how
we
feel
with
somebody,
feeling
along
with
them,
but
there's
also
our
cognitive
empathy,
how
we
understand
somebody
else's
perspective
and
point
of
view.
And
they
were
really
looking
at
how
does
reading
actively
build?
What
is
it
that
actively
builds
those
different
empathy
skills?
And
they
found
that
the
way
in
which
we've
always
approached
empathy
building
through
stories,
so
using
creative
activity
and
using
immersive
ways
of
stepping
into
the
story,
and
using
empathy-focused
book
talk,
which
is
really
focused
on
how
the
characters
are
feeling.
So
dead
simple,
really
focused
on
the
character
and
their
experience,
as
opposed
to
the
literacy
skill
from
the
writer.
If
you
add
all
of
those
things
together,
then
you
are
developing
empathy,
and
they
can
now
prove
that,
they
can
see
the
difference
over
time.
But
they
also
discovered
almost
by
accident,
as
they
were
doing
this
work,
they
weren't
expecting
to
find
this,
but
they
found
that
in
the
children
where
this
work
had
been
done
and
their
empathy
had
developed,
it
also
more
strongly
developed
their
reading
skill.
So
it's
not
just
that
reading
builds
empathy,
it's
that
if
you
build
empathy,
someone's
ability
to
understand
another's
emotions
and
feelings
through
reading,
you
also
activate
their
reading
engagement,
their
reading
enjoyment,
and
therefore
their
reading
ability.
So
there's
this
lovely
cyclical
process
that
happens.
So
I
suppose
what
we're
saying
as
part
of
the
National
Year
of
Reading
is
if
we
are
worried
about
children
not
reading
and
not
really
enjoying
reading,
one
of
the
best
ways
that
is
now
proven
to
support
that
is
to
go
in
with
that
empathy
lens.
So
if
you
ask
about
the
characters
and
how
they're
feeling
and
support
that
creative
engagement
and
immersion
in
the
story,
then
you're
going
to
really
spark
their
love
of
reading
and
therefore
their
reading
ability.
So
it
could
be
like
a
little
new,
fresh
way
of
thinking
about
engaging
children
with
books,
not
through
the
literacy
lens,
but
through
the
empathic
lens.
Of
course,
literacy
is
important,
of
course
it
is,
but
we're
just
saying
we
can
do
both
very
simply
at
the
same
time
and
build
reading
engagement.
So
it
feels
very
positive
to
us
that
new
research
has
just
come
out,
and
I
suppose
that's
what
we
really
want
to
invite
people
to
focus
on
through
the
National
Year
of
Reading
and
as
part
of
its
legacy
as
well.
So,
how
do
we
really
use
reading
for
that
purpose
of
building
our
social
and
emotional
skills
as
well
as
our
literacy
skill?
Katy
16:04
Yeah,
that's
really
interesting.
It
makes
it
intuitively
makes
sense,
doesn't
it?
That
if
you
can
connect
with
the
stories,
if
you
can
empathize
and
feel
what
the
characters
are
going
through,
then
you're
going
to
be
more
engaged
in
it.
And
engagement
actually
builds
that
virtuous
cycle
of
wanting
to
read
and
wanting
to
know
what
happens
next
and
caring
about
the
outcomes
in
books.
Imogen
16:26
Yeah,
all
great
research.
Ali
16:28
It's
totally
obvious
when
you
actually
but
it's
nice,
but
it's
great
to
have
the
research
behind
it
that
it's
not
you've
yeah,
exactly.
It's
really
important.
Katy
16:39
So,
in
terms
of
the
national
year
of
reading,
what
are
your
broader
hopes?
What
do
you
hope
it
it
will
achieve?
Imogen
16:45
Well,
I
hope
that
it's
just
the
start,
really.
I
think
it's
important
that
it's
just
the
beginning
and
that
this
is
a
great
moment
to
go.
Actually,
what
are
the
benefits
of
reading?
How
do
we
get
people
excited
about
it?
How
do
we
get
them
engaged
in
wanting
to
do
it?
But
then
how
do
we
carry
on
that
momentum
for
the
years
beyond?
So
I
think
we
can't
turn
it
around
in
one
year.
The
decline
has
been
happening
over
such
a
length
of
time
now
that
it's
going
to
take
time
to
change
it.
But
I'm
really
hopeful
actually
that
with
this
sort
of
light
shone
on
it
this
year,
that
from
the
end
of
2026
onwards
that
we
can
start
to
really
build
that
engagement
and
enjoyment
and
fun
of
reading.
And
I
suppose
that
means
for
me,
that
means
young
people
like
leading
the
way
in
that,
that
it's
about
their
choices.
And
I
know
we
always
talk
about
choice
and
voice
and
you
know
how
important
that
is,
but
it's
still
surprising
the
number
of
children
who
go,
Oh,
I'm
not
really
allowed
to
read
that,
or
I've
been
told
that's
not
very
good
for
me.
Let's
just
let
them
read
whatever
they
want
to
read
and
not
worry
about
it.
All
reading
is
excellent
reading,
as
far
as
I'm
concerned.
Katy
18:02
Very
good,
very
good
message.
Ali
18:04
Yeah,
thank
you
very
much.
Imogen
18:06
That's
all
right.
Thank
you.