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- The Citizen Voices Team
A Passion for Reading
by His Excellency Jean-Daniel LafondThe public Art Matters forum taking place on December 9, 2008, to be held in conjunction with the presentation of the 2008 Governor General's Literary Awards, will be a continuation of the dialogue on literature that we began last year. The over thirty participants—laureates, writers, administrators, festival organizers, booksellers and librarians—reflected on the role that writers and books play in Canadian society and concluded on a single thought: their desire to instil a taste for reading in their fellow Canadians. It was therefore natural to continue the dialogue this year by inviting anyone and everyone to take part. Because all Canadians—writers and readers alike—are touched by this year’s theme: A Passion for Reading.
But is having a desire to read enough to make someone a reader? You first must be able to read to get from the desire to the act. It is a basic requirement that needs to be brought up because, as we know, there are far too many people in Canada who have real difficulty deciphering texts. In fact, the level of literary skills—defined as the ability to read—in Canada is a real problem that has yet to be resolved. It is the first step required to go from having a desire to read to actually reading. We should also add that we are not born readers, just as we are not born writers. In both cases, it requires a minimum level of culture, an appreciation for the arts and some self-improvement. If we believe the publishing statistics, the number of books published increases every year, to the point that we have to wonder if we will soon find ourselves in a society that has more writers than readers.
Reading is an encounter with both the book and the writer. To echo Roland Barthes, I would say that reading combines our desire to write with our desire to read.
In that sense, there is no doubt a writer waiting to be awakened in every reader and an avid reader inside every writer. How do we acquire the desire to read? How do we solicit it, cajole it, train it in this mercenary world that has made writers vendors and books merchandise? What role do schools, society and the media play?
This public Art Matters forum is an invitation to explore these questions with the 2008 laureates, to share your points of view, to compare the different experiences of writers and readers, and, I am sure, to celebrate the pleasure of reading today. As for bringing reading and writing together, Jean-Paul Sartre said it best when he wrote that a novel is the undertaking of a single person, but reading is taking part in the risks of that undertaking.
The four panellists who will be speaking at this 33rd Art Matters forum will share the unique way they present books and reading to the public. They will discuss how they go directly to the reader, whether on the Internet, in various communities, in schools or in workplaces.
We want you to tell us what role reading plays in your daily life. What motivates your desire to read? You are invited to take part in this forum, whether in person at the Ottawa Public Library, or by posting your comments and thoughts on this site.
I look forward to hearing from you!
His Excellency Jean-Daniel Lafond
5 Comments
My grade 12 English teacher Mr.Finley, once told his class, that it is our right/left brain hemopheres which control our interests in either math or english, that we are either orientated to read or do math, that only the exceptional students can do both.
I was one of those exceptional students who was interested in both. But, developed only one--english.
Reading is like anything else, it requires learning. Reading needs to be developed daily to enable one to decifer meaning. Once learned to read effectively, one will understand meaning.
I remember as a child I couldn't read, I had difficulty pronouncing words, but I knew I was interested in reading, so I taught myself, but I wasn't able to comprehend the written english part of the school work. I had to teach myself to answer questions by doing the questions first, instead of trying to comprehend the english part. The lack of comprehension in reading set me back in math as well, because of my inability to comprehend the english in the problems in math.
By grade 5 I was an avid reader of books, but I still wasn't able to comprehend written school work. The school gave me speed reading lessons, I learned to read well, but had no comprehension of what I was reading.
It's been only since 2002 and the daily practice of reading and writing, that I am now able to comprehend everything I read.
I literally went through a transformation of self-taught--autodidact.
Anyone can teach themselves to read and speak effectively, through the daily practice of both. Just a few short years ago, I had absolutely no opinion about anything, I was purely stupid, ignorant, and uneducated, and I knew it. So I set out to teach myself to be smarter.
And if I can do it, anyone can do it! From childhood I was entrapped in bondage of myself for many years. My own father knew I was in a self-absorbed shell. Now emerging from that shell of quietude, and reclusiveness, is a teacher of high intellect, insight, intuitive ability and humbleness.
If a child never learns to read effectively, he will never speak effectively without knowledge of intelligence.
So then we have an adult who never learned to read, or write effectively, so in turn, he's not able to make himself clearly understood, and communication is misconstrued.
But, in today's computor technology, reading and writing are making computor nerds out of all of us, communication is made easy, people are voicing their opinions, or facts, and many are becoming literary geniuses.
The highlight of this wonderful evening was the few moments that I spent chatting with the Governor General. Your Excellency, you have given me a precious memory and I thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement. Migwech.
Daily reading doesn't have to be a hard or soft covered book, but any reading what-so-ever, including via-the-internet. And it only has to be for 5 minutes a day. You'll be training your brain to understand what's being said.
Reading is not easy, especially complex stuff of the educated mind. To daily read will give you an advantage, it will literally teach you what's important in an article as well as teach you how to read complex jargon. It will also teach you to speak effectively.
Complex jargon turns the reader away, because the reader doesn't understand the writer's mind. The reader associates complex jargon with education. However, schooling doesn't teach simplicity which is why many educated minds never get published, because they don't know how to keep it simple. Good writing clarifies itself, makes itself understood in a simplistic style. A good writer will bare in mind Shakesperes words "Brevity is the soul of wit" so keep it brief and simple folks.
In the writing field simplicity is preferred over complexity, because simplicity is more universally understood over complexity.
Reading is difficult especially if it has not been practiced throughout the years after schooling. Most people become literary deficient, because it is something which needs to be honed to perfection on a daily basis.
One doesn't need to like reading to master it, they only need to understand it. And understanding one's mind is to read one's mind through their style of writing.
To become a great reader is to develope a great understanding of the ideas on people's minds. It's the ideas that keep us reading. Any great writer will have their readers mesmerized, wanting to read more.
Reading entertains, informs, and educates us, the more reading one does, the smarter they become in understanding others.
A reader can read at any level of education, because the reader trained her mind to do so.
I grew up in an illiterate family background during the British colonial days in Singapore, then a British colony for more than 150 years. I went to an English-medium school and had all my years of education in the English Language all my life. Hence, the English Language became my first language, supplanting my mother tongue.
It was my first British teacher from the first day of my school life that motivated me to learn to read anything written in English. She was such a marvellous teacher and had the first library in class stacked with fairy tales and folklores that she brought from England. The second teacher who impacted me with a life-long love for reading was my Eurasian English and Literature teacher in the secondary school. Shakespearean plays, Romantic poetry, short stories and the like, imparted by an ardent teacher in love with the books he taught and brought to life, was another motivator in my developing a great passion for reading and subsequently writing.
It is much harder to delve into the thoughts and intents of writers of another language and culture. Nonetheless, it has opened the windows of my mind to a greater horizon out there of human affairs and activities of other cultures and languages.
Last but not the least, a good role model is not only reinforcing but very pervasive and persuasive as well. My son grew up to be an avid reader in his younger days and so is my four year-old grandson, Kyle, now. Kyle would not let any family member go without reading to him most of the stories that he brought that time permits.
It's true that the modern world and its demands has robbed many an avid reader once to lose their passion for reading. The vicissitudes of a world gone mad and a rat race lifestyle are perhaps some of the permanent impediments to reading for life and pleasure. Does "Reading Maketh A Man" now?