► Literature on the loose
What if we exchanged books during marauding trips? This is one of the commitments of the “Lire et Sourire” association which, since 2015, has intervened once a month in Lyon with the Red Cross and Fraternité Lyon Centre. While these associations distribute food and basic necessities, Lire et Sourire offers people in very precarious situations the opportunity to offer them one or more books from donations. Volunteers take the time to advise them and discuss things to better understand their tastes. Thus, they fight against isolation by creating social bonds around literature.
Reading to get better, or the rise in France of “bibliotherapy”
Since 2021, the same initiative has existed in Lille. The association intervenes during literary distributions at fixed points, in addition to the hot meals distributed by the “Restos du coeur”. The objective remains the same: to facilitate access to literature and culture for all.
► Stories in the heart of the neighborhood
In 2024 the “Nantes lit dans la rue” association reaches a milestone. Created in 2014, it will soon be ten years since it organized reading sessions in Malakoff, a priority district just a stone’s throw from the city center, with a very special system: a street library. Whether it rains or winds, and even when the weather is nice, volunteers come with their shopping cart full of books to tell stories to local families, most of whom come from abroad.
Young French people read less than before, digital books increasingly present
The association carefully chooses stories aimed at everyone, particularly children, in order to give them a taste for reading. From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursdays, two street libraries are busy at Square de Chypre and Rue de Madrid. Volunteer readers are always sought to lead these times of exchange and these spaces of diversity.
► Hunting for book boxes
At the entrance to a supermarket or in the middle of a square, book boxes dot our towns and villages. In the form of an old hutch or a telephone booth converted into a small library, the idea remains the same. One or more books are placed on the shelves in exchange for other works. From then on, these little boxes are precious relays of literature on the street corner.
Disability: we tested reading in the dark, to experience listening to blind people
To find out if there is one near you, the “Zonelivre” association lists them on its site, which already has more than 6,200! Simply indicate the city in question for a list of places to appear on the screen. As this tool is participatory, during a walk, if you see one, take the opportunity to take a photo of it and attach it, with its location, on the contact page of the site, as well as its location.
