Basket: 
I’m Louise Logan-Smith, a poet, fiction writer, and lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Teesside University. My research focuses on reading and writing for wellbeing and social inclusion, exploring how reading and writing can transform lives and build communities. As both a practicing writer and an educator, I’m passionate about making reading accessible, meaningful, and connected to people’s lived experiences and interests.
I’m thrilled to be Reader-in-Residence for Darlington Libraries because I see this as an opportunity to connect reading directly to people and their passions, whether that’s through discovering new voices, exploring familiar favourites in fresh ways, or finding books that speak to individual interests and concerns. I’m particularly excited to use writing as an extension of reading during the residency, creating spaces where readers can respond creatively to what they’ve read, share their own stories, and see themselves as active participants of reading rather than passive consumers. I’m very excited to lean into the ways in which reading can take many forms across my residency. I can’t wait to work with Darlington’s community and discover together what reading and writing can do!
