Time today to reflect on the highly successful, inaugural Tasmania Reads week which wound up officially on Saturday. Tasmania Reads is a subset on the national Australia Reads campaign which is a partnership between writers, publishers and libraries. This year there was a strong focus on the role of reading for pleasure to reduces stress, improves memory and increase feelings of wellbeing.
One of the great things about Australia Reads is the ability to personalise the logo to reflect an individual/group or location, and here in Tasmania (Australia’s island state) many libraries took the branding down to a local level reinforcing the concept that reading is important to everyone.
As many of you know I live on Bruny Island off the coast of Tasmania and our local library built on the necessary ‘down time’ that occurs with every sea crossing by installing pop up libraries at the ferry terminals on either side – there have already been requests for them to become permanent! They also introduced a ‘book box’ onto the school bus which takes children off island every day and this was a big hit.
There had recently been discussions within the community about starting a book discussion group at our end of the island and so we used the opportunity to test the waters by hosting ‘Reading Tasmanian for Tasmania Reads’. Participants were asked to bring along a favourite read by a Tasmanian author/set in Tasmania/about Tasmania. What a fabulous range of topics and ideas – everyone headed home with something borrowed under their arm and our next meeting is already set for 13 April.
At a state level one of the highlights was a reception at Government House hosted by the Governor, Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC who was a great supporter of the initiative. I was also delighted to be able to attend the launch of a new story walk by the water at Margate. The joy of the children and their families was infectious.
Congratulations to everyone who contributed to make this first Tasmania Reads such a wonderful series of events. Here’s to many more.
To get a better idea of what was on offer make a coffee and sit down with the Tasmania Reads magazine
Jan Richards Consulting 