Books Connect

Projects

Out of the Book - Derby City Libraries

Out of the Book explored Derby's Museum and Art Gallery through literature with four evenings dedicated to bringing together creative writing and the museum's collections. Each evening covered a different subject and was held in or near the Gallery related to that subject. Local writers read from books of their own choice which they felt best interpreted the subject.

Innocence and Experience - Derbyshire Libraries

Innocence and Experience took David Almond's novel Skellig as the basis for a series of multi-artform workshops held in libraries across the county. Five artists were involved in designing and delivering the project, covering dance, theatre, music, video, and design and making (textiles, banners and costumes).

Each workshop aimed to be a creative exploration of the book for young audiences, giving readers new insights into the content, characters, themes and structure of the novel. The children were encouraged to experiment with their interpretations of the story, through some or all of the above artforms.

A further series of workshops is being planned for 2003, as the format proved so successful with the children. The workshops will be held in libraries, schools and museums.

Some of the children's responses:

• "I've changed my mind about reading and after today's event I intend to read more."
• "I have made lots of friends."
• "It made me want to read the book."
• "I wish it had been longer, because the time went by so fast, it was such fun."
• "From this event I have learnt that you don't need to use rubbers in art."

Wild Spaces and Speakeasy - Leicester City Libraries

Leicester City Libraries ran two projects under the auspices of Books Connect.

The first project linked Leicester's Central Lending Library with the nearby New Walk Museum. Taking a new collection at the museum as a starting point, we developed a book collection to match the themes of the exhibition. The exhibition was called Wild Spaces and looked at different environments: deserts, marine, forests, etc. Five book lists were developed around different environments and the books were available to borrow from the library and the museum café. High quality publicity material accompanied the books and two events were organised: a reading group session at the museum and a themed poetry reading at the library.

Leicester's second project was a partnership project working with Southfields Library, the educational initiative Headstart and a local theatre in education company, Speakeasy. Working with a group of teenagers from the Saffron Lane Estate, Speakeasy took the young people through the process of developing their own version of Macbeth, ready for performance within one week. The rehearsals and performance were based at the library, and all participants received a copy of the play. The drama group has now become a regular group, which meets at the library throughout the year.

Myths and Legends - Leicestershire Libraries

The aim of the project was to offer a group of young people and a group of recovering mentally ill people the opportunity to produce a lasting artefact to celebrate their place in the community. The theme was the myth of the bookmaker.

A poet and a visual artist worked with the two groups, producing poetry, prose, books and other artwork.

The project culminated in the groups presenting their work to a local audience.

Connect Exhibition - Lincolnshire Libraries

The aim was create new and exciting ways of promoting reading by illustrating the ways in which people "connect" with books - their personal response and the impact books and reading have on their lives. The outcome is a fascinating and professionally produced exhibition touring libraries, museums, shopping centres and village halls.

Reading Groups in Lincolnshire were invited to contribute reviews and responses to the books they discuss at their meetings. Similarly, writers and writers' circles were invited to contribute a piece of creative writing that conveyed their personal response (or that of someone they knew) to a book or the act of reading.

Local photographers were commissioned to produce images that conveyed the connection between people and books and/or reading and these were used to illustrate the written contributions in the exhibition.

Lincolnshire Library Service put the exhibition together in partnership with the Arts Development and Literature Development Officers of Lincolnshire County Council.

The exhibition was launched at Lincoln Central Library 2002 and is currently touring libraries, museums, shopping centres, village halls and other arts and community venues. In October 2002 it was displayed at the Louth Literature Festival at the Riverhead Theatre in Louth and is here today at the Books Connect Conference in Nottingham.

Reading Images - Northamptonshire Libraries

The aim of the project in Northamptonshire was to reflect and capture, through a series of photographs and interventions, the role that books and reading play in the lives of Northamptonshire people.

The planning group for the project consisted of representatives from Northamptonshire Libraries and Information Service, Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, The Alfred East Art Gallery in Kettering, the Arts Teams from Northamptonshire County and Northampton Borough Councils, Daventry Museum and The Roadmender, a performance arts venue within Northampton.

The photographer, James Smith, toured the County and collected the images. The interventions were provided by five of the County's reading groups, who worked with James to consider quotes from literature and from notable people about reading/reading experience.

The completed exhibition was launched on 11 June 2002 at The Roadmender. The twelve photographs were printed onto sheets of 1½ metre square vinyl, and the eight interventions were printed onto acetate and displayed alongside the photographs.

Following the well-attended launch, the exhibition has toured a range of venues across the County, including four libraries, two art galleries and a museum.

The Art of Words - Nottingham City Libraries

Nottingham City Libraries ran four events as part of the Art of Words programme. These events, which involved creative writing, contemporary art, performance poetry, storytelling and performance art, enabled users of a variety of cultural facilities in Nottingham to explore the value of books and reading and to explore live literature events in new venues.

"Prose and Cons" was an afternoon workshop for crime writers facilitated by author Anne Cleeves and supported by the Galleries of Justice. Later that day Anne ran a hugely successful Murder Mystery Evening "Brought to Book" at the Nottingham Central Library with library staff taking the parts of characters within a crime story scripted by Anne. The audience was able to consider the evidence presented to them and to decide who was responsible for the murder.

"Love on the Rock" was a Valentine's Day event at Nottingham Castle, which explored the theme of love through poetry, romantic writing, performance and visual art. Costumed performers provided an interactive interpretation of two famous love paintings from the Castle collection. At the Angel Row Gallery, Nicky Rafferty's "Telling Tales of Home" storytelling event for young children linked in with the exhibition on display "house work: domestic spaces as sites for artists". Meanwhile visitors to the gallery, parents and carers had the opportunity to consult the DIY Doctor on duty to provide practical and creative solutions to household headaches.

Mr. Straw: A Life of Books - Nottinghamshire Libraries

A partnership involving Nottinghamshire County Library Service (Worksop Library) and The National Trust (Mr. Straw's House, Worksop) was developed for this project.

Mr. Straw was a well-known local tradesman living and working in Worksop during the 1920s. He was also an avid reader and collector of books. The idea behind the project was to harness local interest in Mr. Straw to promote the library, books and reading, and the National Trust Property.

Two talks by National Trust property custodian were held in Worksop Library. An exhibition was displayed in the library of a selection of Mr. Straw's books alongside their modern editions.

Five monologues were performed, based on what Mr. Straw was reading in 1920s. This is now available on CD and cassette from Worksop Library.

Performing Books - Rutland Libraries

Performing Books consisted of 3 projects, each aimed at a different age group: Chinese Storytelling and Dance for primary school children, a graphic novel event for teenagers, and a romance evening for adults.

The children's project included storytelling, dance, and banner-making workshops, and events took place in Oakham Library, Oakham Museum and various primary schools in the county. The banners are permanently housed in Oakham Library's Children's area.

For teenagers a Graphic Novel workshop was held at Oakham Museum exploring the interplay of text and art in comics, led by graphic novelist Nabiel Kanan. Students from art and design classes at Rutland College attended the event. A display of artefacts and novels relating to Graphic Novels was provided at Oakham Library, in partnership with Page 45, a graphic novel bookshop.

The Romance Event involved readings by poet Mark Gwynne-Jones and music by string duet Duo Symmetry at Oakham Castle, and was supported by a poetry display in Oakham Library.