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A Permanent Literature Festival
A Permanent Literature Festival
The writer is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor of Biomedical Engineering, International Health and Medicine at Boston University. He tweets @mhzaman
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Literature festivals tend to happen not just in large cities, but also in
particular venues with a certain image that does not inspire true
inclusion. I am reminded of a conversation I had with a young student a
few years ago, who told me that despite a love of literature she simply
could not imagine going to a festival. When I inquired further she said
that she and her family simply did not belong in that company. She felt
that she did not come from the right class, and she and her father (a
simple man with a very modest salary) would be escorted out by the
guards before they could even enter. She simply did not have the
courage to risk her self-respect and had therefore felt that the doors of
the festivals were closed on her. Whether her fear was true or not, we
cannot deny that our class conscious society does erect real and
perceived barriers that stop many from socio-economically
disadvantaged groups to fully participate. This sense of exclusion is the
antithesis of what literature and celebration of literature ought to be
about.
The only way to both reach those who are unable to join the literature
festival in person, and catalyse a movement, is to create and support
public libraries within communities. I have heard all kinds of weak
arguments about why we do not have public libraries. Some are based
on the assumption that no one wants to read, and some are simply vile
when they say that the poor people are not to be trusted as they will not
return the books back to the library! The arguments in general are lazy
(or rooted in racism or classism) and demonstrate a strong affinity for
show rather than a real desire to support reading and intellectual
engagement.
And for those who would argue that investing in libraries shows a
disconnect from our real problems of the day, I would say that perhaps
the only way to come out of the mess we find ourselves in is to know
ourselves, reflect on our history, and recognise that in the name of
solutions and ideologies we have been sold snake oil by charlatans big
and small. Reading is the first, and perhaps the most important, step to
undo the damage of the last seven decades.
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