Everybody's Reading!

On the way back from my meeting at Leicestershire Cares, I'm buttonholed in New Walk by Damien Walter, who has previously tweeted me to ask how we to get "the interfaiths" (his word, not mine) involved in the Everybody's Reading Festival, which will be running throughout the city, 2-10 October this year. I agree it would be nice to add a faith-diverse flavour to this event, but how to go about it? It has to be something better than just asking the faith communities or their representatives to nominate their favourite books. When I worked full-time in adult education in Leicester, teaching basic literacy, one of the tasks set for students was to write a book review. Muslim students would invariably write about the Qur'an, Sikh students the Guru Granth Sahib, Hindu students, more often than not the Gita. And it's hard to engage critically with the Word of God, no matter how well developed those faculties might be in the individual. So, we should find some other way of entering into this event. Perhaps favourite biographies or favourite children's books. Whichever point of entry we choose, it could lead to a display in the public libraries and a higher profile for the Council of Faiths. More thought and conversation is required.