{"id":2,"date":"2018-05-25T09:06:47","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T08:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2025-07-17T06:52:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T05:52:52","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Nicola Wilson, Professor in Book and Publishing Studies, University of Reading<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I have always loved reading. Growing up I used to spend many happy hours rummaging through the public library\u2019s shelves. I remember the day a supply teacher came into my English class at high school with a list of classic authors he thought we \u2018should\u2019 know about. It was a challenge and provocation \u2013 no one had shown any interest in my personal reading before \u2013 and I started to work through the list, questioning it and arguing as I went along.<\/p>\n

I am now a Professor in Book and Publishing Studies and my research focusses on the history of reading and publishing. I am interested in understanding more about what people actually read in the past, which is not necessarily the small number of texts that are remembered, canonised, or taught in literature programmes today.<\/p>\n

This site recovers the history of Britain\u2019s first celebrity book club. Please do get in touch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.reading.ac.uk\/english-literature\/aboutus\/Staff\/n-l-wilson.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n

The bibliographical aspect of this project has been funded by a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013-17) and a University of Reading Research Fellowship (2022-3).<\/p>\n

This is an academic research project and not intended for commercial re-use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Find out more about Dr Nicola Wilson, Associate Professor in Book and Publishing Studies, University of Reading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":353,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"coauthors":[10],"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - The Book Society 1929-69<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - The Book Society 1929-69\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Find out more about Dr Nicola Wilson, Associate Professor in Book and Publishing Studies, University of Reading.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Book Society 1929-69\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuniversityofreading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-17T05:52:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/303\/2023\/07\/img_1355-2from-JohnJohnson-flyer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"945\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"941\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UniofReading\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/\",\"name\":\"About - The Book Society 1929-69\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-25T08:06:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-17T05:52:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"About\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/\",\"name\":\"The Book Society 1929-69\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Reading\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/303\/logos\/readinglogo.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/303\/logos\/readinglogo.gif\",\"width\":2386,\"height\":782,\"caption\":\"University of Reading\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuniversityofreading\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniofReading\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"About - The Book Society 1929-69","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"About - The Book Society 1929-69","og_description":"Find out more about Dr Nicola Wilson, Associate Professor in Book and Publishing Studies, University of Reading.","og_url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/","og_site_name":"The Book Society 1929-69","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuniversityofreading\/","article_modified_time":"2025-07-17T05:52:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":945,"height":941,"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/303\/2023\/07\/img_1355-2from-JohnJohnson-flyer.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@UniofReading","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/","name":"About - The Book Society 1929-69","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-05-25T08:06:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-17T05:52:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/about\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"About"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/","name":"The Book Society 1929-69","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#organization","name":"University of Reading","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/303\/logos\/readinglogo.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/303\/logos\/readinglogo.gif","width":2386,"height":782,"caption":"University of Reading"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuniversityofreading\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniofReading"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":526,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/thebooksociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}