Workshop

Step out of the conference bustle and into a space where stories are not only read but entered. This 90-minute pop-up retreat invites delegates to experience literature as living worlds—thresholds to step across, atmospheres to dwell within, labyrinths to wander.

Guided by Dr Susan McLaine, founder of Bibliotherapy Australia and creator of The Reading Way, participants are welcomed into a quieter, heartful environment designed for reflection and renewal. At its centre is the signature Discover Your Reading Identity process, a guided activity that helps participants uncover their unique patterns, preferences, and purposes in reading. This new program invites people to re-engage with reading in fresh, meaningful ways—expanding how they see themselves as readers and how they connect with books. It sits alongside The Reading Way, Dr McLaine’s reflective framework that positions reading as a practice of wellbeing and renewal.

Delegates are invited into immersive story experiences. These are not texts for analysis but worlds to inhabit: anticipation that sharpens the senses, corridors of fire and ice alive with contrast, a labyrinth that rearranges itself at every turn, a night sky strewn with stars so close they seem to breathe. Each story becomes a temporary home, a place that invites wonder, presence and discovery.

Participants are given time to linger inside these atmospheres through journaling, doodling, or simply being still. Space is then opened for gentle, optional conversation, where delegates can share what surfaced in their encounter with story. The emphasis throughout is on spaciousness: moving from the pace of a conference into the slower rhythm of entering another place, dwelling and returning.

The session itself demonstrates a new kind of reader program: part retreat, part reflective practice. It shows how stories can be offered as immersive, restorative experiences that go beyond book clubs or reader advisory and development to create deeper, more imaginative engagement. At the same time, the session doubles as professional development, giving delegates the rare chance to embody the practice for themselves before considering how it might translate into their own contexts.

Each participant will leave with a take-home ritual card and a facilitator’s guide, enabling them to adapt the experience for their own communities. The retreat format is adaptable for libraries, workplaces and educational or wellbeing contexts, offering a fresh model that is both personally restorative and professionally relevant.

Dr McLaine’s internationally recognised work integrates research, reflective practice, and innovation in reading programming. Her Reading Way and Discover Your Reading Identity frameworks provide new possibilities for supporting readers at every stage—inviting people to enter stories not only for knowledge and entertainment, but for belonging, renewal and wellbeing.

Note: This Retreat can be adapted to various timeframes.