code: def workbook_to_reader(xlwt_wb):
      
      _xlrd_required()
      fh = BytesIO()
      xlwt_wb.save(fh)
      # prep for reading
      fh.seek(0)
      return xlrd.open_workbook(file_contents=fh.read())
docs: convert xlwt Workbook instance to an xlrd instance for reading