I used to have enough books to fill two tall bookshelves. In the summer of 2017, I donated almost all of them. It might seem like a bizarre twist of logic but getting rid of my books made me more of a reader.
Don’t let the books grind you down
Give the people books: Why World Book Day tokens should be available to all
The heart of World Book Day is encouraging book haters to become book lovers, to tackle the elitist stereotypes around reading, to give a child a form of escapism. How can we not justify this scheme being useful for adults?
Recalibrating our literary compasses
In the era of Amazon, who can resist a text “recommended for you”? But with each *click*, metadata expands and a cycle of the same books fill our shelves. However, long before Kamila Shamsie’s female-forward challenge to publishers, Ann Morgan uncovered yet another void in our literary marketplace.
A New Chapter for Literary Tourism
Literary tourism is booming. Between 2016-17, 1 in 4 Brits went beyond the pages of their favourite books at one of the UK’s literary hotspots, whilst over half of us are actively interested in exploring one.
Turning Back To Movement By Turning A Page
Art is part of our everyday life. We read when we travel, we turn on the stereo after a long day, we coexist with art. However, even though we are strongly connected to art, we are drawing away from it by separating ourselves from the process of making art.
Minecraft and the Story Map
by Rachel Day Video games may not be the first thing that come to mind as a way of encouraging children to read, but they’re exactly what computer scientists at Lancaster University […]
The Business of Borrowing: 250 Years of the Leeds Library
by Lizzy Holling Book buying has increased, but what about borrowing? The New Year brought reasons to celebrate within the publishing industry, as The Bookseller reported the UK print market has grown […]
The Material Value of Books – Random or Justified?
by Elżbieta Piepiórka Value is relative. To some, Jane Austen is a genius. Others can’t comprehend why she was published. Sentimental, literary, academic values – these vary depending on our individual experiences and […]
The Art of Literary Cartography
by Rachel Day How would you navigate from the Shire to Mordor? Box-shaped mountain ranges and bizarre drainage basins aside, Middle Earth’s topography poses questions about crossing literary landscapes. As a writer, […]
Button Poetry: Speaking the Unspoken
by Rachel C-Potter In a 2013 Button Poetry slam event held in Madison, Wisconsin, Neil Hilborn performed the poem that after going viral catapulted him to fame, landing him a contract as […]
