0275 - Talking about reading groups with Adam Kelly

0275 - Talking about reading groups with Adam Kelly

From Design Talk (dot IE) by Allen Higgins

June 30, 2026 · 35 min · Season 13 · Episode 275

About this episode

Allen Higgins interviews Adam Kelly about the differences between academic reading groups and book clubs, exploring their impact on intellectual development.

In this episode I talk with Adam Kelly about ACADEMIC reading groups, which I think we’ll DISCOVER, are a whole lot different to book clubs. Adam is an Associate Professor of English in UCD’s School of English, Drama and Film. He has written books himself and published special editions and edited collections and proceedings, (which, for our audience, are books too), and written numerous journal articles, conference papers and reviews (publications that are a bit like books but shorter). OBVIOUSLY you know a thing or two about WRITING (we might talk about that in depth some time)… But, what about this other THING, READING, you must also be very good at it too? Have reading groups had much of an IMPACT on your academic intellectual DEVELOPMENT? We’re talking about READING groups. But when the group meets, you don’t sit around READING do you? Why don’t we call them TALKING groups? So, what is a reading group? What’s it good for?  How does the thing you’re reading impact the way you organize the gathering? (monograph, selected chapters, collection of articles, scripts, interpreting artefacts like designs, cases) Must you decide all the readings in advance? (you invited members…

People in this episode

Host: Allen Higgins

Guest: Adam Kelly

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UCD

Books & works: ACADEMIC reading groups, book clubs, books, journal articles, conference papers, reviews, monograph, selected chapters, collection of articles, scripts

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