EDINBURGH BOOK CLUB SHORTLISTED FOR THE PENGUIN/ORANGE BROADBAND READERS' GROUP PRIZE 2008

London, 30 July 2008: Laura's Book Group from Edinburgh has been shortlisted for this year's Penguin/Orange Broadband Readers' Group Prize; the UK's only annual award for reading groups.

Now in its seventh year, the aim of the prize is to find the reading groups that illustrate individuality, reflect diversity of reading choices and demonstrate the pleasure of shared reading.

Laura's Book Group has been meeting for over two and a half years, in and around Edinburgh.  There are eleven women and two men in the group, who travel from all over central Scotland to attend meetings which are occasionally held in venues pertinent to the book's theme. Recently they met in the meeting room of a pub below the Forth Road Bridge when discussing The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Laura Wilkie, founder of the book group commented: "We are absolutely thrilled and exceptionally proud. We are so chuffed to be flying the book worming flag for Scotland into the finals! The reading group has added an entirely new dimension to the way all of us read, and formed a close friendship between us in the process."

The group also has annual book awards, AGMs and attend book events and literary themed social nights together, such as Rabbie Burn's Night.

The other five shortlisted reading groups are:

• Bullingdon Prison Reading Group, (Oxfordshire). Founded in 2001, this is one of the longest running prison groups in the country. Its members are male prisoners of all ages, joined by library staff and a volunteer co-ordinator.
• St Michaels Reading Group, (Doncaster). Originally formed by members of a local church two years ago, the mixed group live in a low income community so they made a policy decision to only read library books to enable everybody to join in.
• The Book Groupies, (London). A mixed group of twenty and thirty-somethings who share a love of reading, tapas and red wine, the Book Groupies are now in their fifth year.
• The European Reading Group, (Canterbury). This group has been running for nine years and has seven female members, all of different nationalities, most of whom are teachers.
• The Rugby High School Reading Group, (Warwickshire). Formed two years ago by Year 10 and 11 students, members wanted an opportunity to discover new books.

Entrants were asked where they meet, what they read, how they choose their members and what their reading group means to them. Entrants were also asked to write up to 500 words about what makes their reading group special.

The judging panel for the Penguin/Orange Readers' Group Prize 2008 consists of:

• Nicci Gerrard, Penguin author and one half of crime writing duo Nicci French (Chair)
• Professor Jenny Hartley, Roehampton University, Author of The Reading Groups Book
• Jo James, Events and Local Marketing Manager, Waterstone's
• Clare Chandler, co-director of the reading group website, www.bookgroupinfo.co.uk
• Dymphna Flynn, producer of Radio 4's Book Club
• Karen Cunningham, Head of Libraries in Glasgow

The winning group will be announced on 28th August and first prize will be a day at Penguin's central London office for the winning group.  The prize will include meeting editors and publicists, lunch and a reading group session with a Penguin author.  Second prize winners will receive two sets of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2008 shortlisted books.

Magda Lojszczyk, Partnerships Manager, Orange UK commented: "It is still the only prize of its kind in the UK and we are proud to reward groups which bring people together through a love for literature. Working at a grassroots level, this prize is an important element in the wider Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction programme."

Louisa Symington, Publicity Director, Generic PR, commented: "There was a superb crop of entries this year from all over Britain - the age range was huge from 15 year old school girls to 90 year old ladies and included groups that had met through such diverse places as prisons, churches, schools and pubs. It is particularly encouraging to see a love of reading bringing people together from all ages and lifestyles, who might not necessarily be friends, but who all share one passion - books."

All six entries are up on the Readers' Group Prize website (www.readersgroupprize.com).

For further information:

www.readersgroupprize.com