Open Book is looking to appoint two experienced workshop facilitators to lead shared reading sessions at HMP Dumfries on Tuesday afternoons and at HMP Barlinnie (currently Friday mornings but to be confirmed).
The engagement for each appointment is to deliver up to 40 shared reading sessions in the prison between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027. The rate of pay is £115 per session, plus a £25 travel allowance per session. Each Lead Reader will also be entitled to Open Book and SPS training time, funded at £30 per hour. The specific training required by each prison varies but is a minimum of 0.5 day in-person Personal Protection Training and approx 5 hours Open Book specific training (usually online) across the year.
As these sessions take place in person in Dumfries and in Glasgow, applicants living locally to each prison are preferred.
About Open Book
Since March 2013 Open Book (openbookreading.com) has run shared reading and creative writing sessions for adults. In our 2025/26 year, we’ll have delivered around 1200 sessions in approximately 70 locations – from Shetland to Stranraer and in places like Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee and in the Central Belt. We work in a number of sectors: libraries, health care settings, with refugees and migrants, community groups, libraries, and in Scottish prisons. This role relates to our shared reading programme in HMP Dumfries. In these sessions, stories and poems are read aloud then discussed in a relaxed and informal setting.
Applicant Requirements
The successful candidate will:
- have a love of reading and books;
- have experience in community workshop delivery, ideally within a prison setting (this is strongly preferred but not essential);
- be free to run the sessions on Tuesday afternoons;
- be asked to complete a Level 2 Disclosure through Disclosure Scotland (Open Book will cover the costs of this and support the Lead Reader to complete this process);
- be asked to undertake at least two half-day training sessions prior to working in HMP Dumfries (Open Book will cover the costs of this training at £30 per hour, plus travel expenses); and
- be able to attend a paid online training session in the Open Book shared reading model to be held shortly after appointment.
Application Process
Please submit a letter of application and CV to amy@openbookreading.com by 5pm on Wednesday 11 March outlining which position you are applying for and any experience you feel would be relevant. Please direct any questions related to the application to amy@openbookreading.com.