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Everybody's Reading 2017

5th September 2017

This is the eighth year of the Everybody's Reading festival. When we began in 2010 our aim was to create something unique. We didn't want to set up yet another literary festival that stayed confined to a few venues in the city centre. Instead we wanted to create something more diverse and dynamic: a community reading festival that took place all over the city, in libraries, coffee shops, pubs and neighbourhood centres and offered something for everyone. We wanted reading to be central to the daily life in the city because literacy opens doors. Doors in the imagination; doors to employment. Over the last 8 years we have seen this vision blossom. We established sharing libraries in several pubs and then saw this copied by a host of other shops, cafes and bars. This year most of the Festival events were organised by groups from our local communities who share our passion for reading. Welcome to Everybody's Reading Festival 2017. This is your festival.
Peter Flack, Chair of Everybody's Reading

As always, the NUT is pleased to support Everybody's Reading and as usual is sponsoring a number of events. The full brochure is available to download at everybodysreading.co.uk. Below are details of three of the six events that Leicester NUT is sponsoring and that we encourage you to attend.

Friday 6th October, Secular Hall, 7.00pm to 9.00pm

The 1960s was a time of rapid change and radical ideas. Kenny Wilson looks at the growth of the Counterculture from its roots in the protest and youth movements of the 1950s (CND, beatniks, jazz clubs and coffee bars) to its perceived decline in the aftermath of mass cultural events like Woodstock, the Isle of Wight Festival and the shock of the Charles Manson murders in California. A fascinating period, illustrated in song. All welcome.

Free

Thursday 5th October, The Exchange Bar, 7.30pm to 9.00pm

Divya Ghelani reads her short story, An Imperial Typewriter, which looks at the situation of Asian workers in Leicester in the early 1970s against the background of the Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974. She will also be talking about the background to the strike, the ensuing 'white workers march', which was supported by the National Front, and discussing the trade union and community response to the rise of racism with Peter Flack who was Secretary of the Leicester Anti Racist Committee in the 1970s.

Free

Sunday 8th October, The Exchange Bar, 12.30pm to 2.30pm

To reflect the anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre in 1995, Melisa Mujkanovic, who is a survivor of the Bosnian war, tells us her story. She talks about being placed in concentration camps, along with her mother and sister, seeking refuge in the UK and being reunited with her father. The importance of caring for fellow human beings, facilitating coexistence and cultivating peace is central to her talk, which she strives to do through her role as a Secondary English teacher and member of the NUT.

Free

 

Related articles

Sue Townsend Award for excellence in creative writing (3rd October 2018)
Everybody's Reading 2016 (5th October 2016)
Everybody's Reading Festival, 27th September - 5th October (25th August 2014)
Everybody's Reading Festival (4th September 2013)
Everybody's Reading Festival 2012 (5th September 2012)
Everybody's Reading 2011 (14th October 2011)
Everybody's Reading 2011 (4th September 2011)
Everybody's Reading 2010 (14th June 2010)

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