Guest post by Director, Laura Bridges
In preparing for The Living Library, I’ve spent months reading transcripts and listening to interviews with people talking about how reading has shaped their lives.
It feels like a real privilege actually to hear how profoundly books and libraries have helped different people. “Reading literally saved my life” sounds like exaggeration; to hear it said in earnest is quite a thing. I am struck again by how powerful reading is, how lucky I am to have the opportunity to read.
As a self-confessed bookworm and through my work as a Creative Associate for The National Centre for Children’s Books (Seven Stories), I know the benefits of reading for pleasure. Yet, as the interviews highlight, it can be difficult find time for reading. I certainly don’t read as much as I did when I was younger. An unexpected boon for me working on this show is that it’s given me a reason to read again. It’s like being fed something for which I didn’t realise I was even hungry.
Books that have awakened and informed me, books that have charmed and impressed me, books I’ve rediscovered I once loved in forgotten times and places.
I hoped that through the show, we would inspire people to reconnect with books. I didn’t realise it would be me! Maybe, it will be you too. Do you have time for story time?
Memories of Fiction: An Oral History 