The North Recommends: Open Ended Books
Newcastle-based charity Equal Arts has established a new dementia-friendly publishing imprint, Open Ended Books. Hear from Publications and Heritage Programmes Manager Sarah Lawrance how they create books that are designed for adults, but accessible to those for whom regular reading has fallen out of reach.
Escaping into a book no longer a lost experience for people living with dementia
If you have ever gone to a library or bookshop looking for reading material for a friend or family member with dementia, you may have found it a frustrating experience. There is no shortage of self-help books offering advice and a growing number of memoirs which offer first-hand insight. The Reading Agency publishes a list of recommended titles – stocked in many public libraries under the banner ‘Reading Well for Dementia.’ If, however, you’re looking for books to read for enjoyment, it’s much more difficult to find anything suitable.
With dementia, it becomes harder to follow a narrative that twists and turns or to keep track of a cast of characters. Large chunks of text are difficult to digest, especially if the lines are long or the language is complex, and smaller fonts can be hard to read. With some types of dementia, pictures may be difficult to interpret. It’s not surprising many give up on reading altogether, adding to the long list of life’s pleasures that fall out of reach as dementia progresses. This is the challenge that Equal Arts set out to address by establishing the new dementia-friendly publishing imprint Open Ended Books.
Equal Arts is a Newcastle-based creative ageing charity with over 30 years’ experience delivering participatory arts programmes for people 55+ and those living with dementia.
Initial funding from Innovate UK supported Equal Arts to take this knowledge of creative ageing and combine it with cultural collections to meet an emerging need.
With support from Newcastle Libraries, we developed our approach and our principles for dementia-friendly publishing over 12 months. In March 2024 Bewick Tales was published.
The development process involved testing all aspects of the text, design and layout of the book with people with dementia. Intriguing details in the text and a variety of images stimulate curiosity and motivation to read, and open-ended questions encourage conversation with a reading partner. We found a landscape format worked better for shared reading and each two-page spread is a standalone story, helping provide an enjoyable reading experience.
Most importantly, our books are written and designed for adults, not for children, because it is so important that people with dementia feel seen and valued as individuals with a lifetime of experience.
Feedback so far has been encouraging and our second book Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere Days, in collaboration with the Wordsworth Trust, will be published in May.
We are also developing a new Reading with Dementia programme in conjunction with Newcastle Libraries.
The number of people affected by dementia is huge and growing, yet in many areas post-diagnosis support is patchy at best. We hope our books will contribute in some way to combating the sense of hopelessness that so many experience, by offering a positive distraction and sparking curiosity and imagination in place of anxiety and negativity.
Both titles, written by Sarah Lawrance and designed by Wendy Lewis, can be ordered from Equal Arts and cost £15.99 each. For bulk orders please email [email protected].
