Scottish Book Trust Bookfellas Initiative

The Scottish Book Trust has recently announced an initiative
to develop male literacy and to encourage more men to read for pleasure, highlighting the importance of dads reading to their children. The SBT have set a target of £50,000 to support literacy initiatives in Scotland, and Bookfellas is a scheme that invites 50 men involved in sport, industry, education and the arts to engage in a range of projects to support this target.  You can find out more about Bookfellas here: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/bookfellas .

For my sins, and for my experience as an educator and writer, the SBT has appointed me one of their Bookfellas, and I’m hoping to be photographed wearing a natty suit and shades soon. While I’m waiting, I’m planning a number of projects to support the initiative.

The Fundraising

My friend the novelist J. David Simons and I are well known among writers for tramping the hills.  In April, we will be doing a sponsored walk over three days, following the 50 mile route taken by Davie Balfour in ‘Kidnapped’ across the island of Mull.  Along the way, we hope to meet local groups in libraries or schools to talk about the novel, about the importance of reading and to read from ‘Kidnapped’ and from our own work, and we may live stream some readings from the route and from the summit of Ben More.  You can find out more about the route here:

http://www.stevensonway.org.uk/mull.aspx

Further to that, I hope to complete a 10K sponsored run in the summer; details to follow.

The Educational Project

Over the next six months, I will be working with two or three schools in a local authority to identify young male readers and work with their fathers in a Young Adult Fiction reading group.  Every four to six weeks, we will meet to discuss a range of books, as well as the importance of reading for boys and how to create an atmosphere conducive to reading in the home.  I hope to introduce them to research into the importance of and the different ways of encouraging reading, including the use of a range of texts and the benefits of reading with pets!

Just Giving

Thank you for visiting my Just Giving page.  I’m hoping to keep everyone up to date through a blog, possibly on the Scottish Association for the Teaching of English website.

Many thanks

Raymond