Bringing to life the creativity of reading through beautiful illustrations inspired by the experiences of real readers.
PROLOGUE
“The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.”
Ursula K. Le Guin
The story of this exhibition begins with a single question.
“Is reading creative?” And from that one question sprang so many thoughts and conversations, and yet more questions.
"What happens in our minds when we read those 'litle black marks on wood pulp'?"
“Does it take creativity to bring those words to life in our own heads?”
“Is a story really a story until it is read by someone else?”
“What do you see when you read? Whose voice do you hear? Is it the same for everyone?”
“What does ‘being a reader’ really mean to our lives?”
…and on it went; until the idea for I Am A Reader was born.
Supported using public funding by the National Lottery from Arts Council England, I Am A Reader set Inspire: Culture, Learning & Libraries on a journey to explore and celebrate the creativity of reading and readers.
We embarked on this journey by first asking six established writers to work with six groups of adult readers – of different ages, from different backgrounds and with a range of reading styles and tastes.
Before the groups commissioned their writers to create the stories they would like to read (more of that later in the exhibition . . .), we encouraged them to talk about their own reading experiences, explore the questions we had been asking ourselves, and consider whether they felt they were being creative when they sat down with a book. Meanwhile, our I Am A Reader scribe took down their thoughts and insights.
It was these thoughts and insights that were presented to our amazing I Am A Reader illustrator Carol Adlam, whom we asked to choose a selection that inspired her and bring them to life through her art.
The final 22 beautiful illustrations are the stars of this exhibition: creative visual interpretations of the authentic experiences of real readers.
This body of work far exceeded our expectations, and stands as a poignant, inspiring and often moving visual depiction of what it means to be a reader and the creativity involved.
Inspire: Culture, Learning & Libraries, 2022
ABOUT
CAROL ADLAM
Our I Am A Reader Illustrator
Carol Adlam is a UK-based writer and illustrator, specialising in graphic journalism, graphic novels and book illustration. She also writes scripts, short stories, and adaptations.
Her work, which has been shown both nationally and internationally, explores how the unique properties of drawing interact with text to create new forms, and how visual art can work in dialogue with literature, poetry, nonfiction, and music.
Her career has taken her from Melbourne, Australia, to the archives of St Petersburg, to a master printmaker in South Africa, and back again to the UK, where she works with museums, galleries, archives, publishers, and designers.
“It was great to work with the I Am A Reader team on this - I found people’s accounts of their experiences of reading thoughtful, stimulating, and sometimes emotional. They all had interesting things to say about reading, so much so that it was hard to choose the ones that I thought would work best visually. I loved the quotes that were about the power of reading to transport you to another world, as this is what my own creative practice as both artist and writer is all about.”
I moved around a lot as a child.
Libraries are where I felt at home.
That’s how you know it’s a good book
- you just hug it.
If you see a film or a TV programme of a book it’s always disappointing. Because they’re wrong. They’re physically right but they’re wrong.
Sometimes I forget who are real people and who are characters. Oh - that’s him! Oh no - he’s dead! Oh no, he’s not real! I felt like I knew him. I felt like I saw him in Asda.
If I go through the looking glass, will I go into another land?
I had a dragon who came to school with me,
who made me feel safe.
And I found that dragon in stories.
I see colours and shapes -
splashes of light rather than
a complete character.
I am pulled into the story -
there are threads connecting me
to the story that I can’t seem to cut.
Stories made me stronger.
I like to know the story is taking me somewhere -
but not in a straight line.
I like to meander down a path.
The main word is ‘free’. I read a lot in the bath. I lock the kids out and I sit there with a book and I just top up the hot water when needed and I can read a whole book.
I put a little bit of my favourite music on in the background, pick up a book, and can be oblivious. Things can be going on in the background, but once I’ve got my head stuck in a book, that’s it.
I used to go in to school twice a week when my son was at school and read stories with the kids - you’d love to see their little faces - they would light up.
The more different a book is
from reality, the more I enjoy it.
Even if it is something set in the
real world it can put me in the shoes
of someone I could never otherwise relate to.
Books changed my life.
Almost saved my life - in a way.
After my wife died, I found myself retreating to books I know and re-reading books we read as a pair. The one thing I could do was curl up with a book and a cup of tea. The comfort of an old friend was just brilliant.
I don’t see it as a passive thing. When I’m reading, I key into my own experiences, and it even inspires my own writing.
We didn’t have a lot of books in the house growing up. 365 Bedtime stories my dad read to me, and it was a really special time. ‘Mr South, burnt his mouth, on a baked potato.’ That line really sticks in my mind now. It was nonsense, but it sticks in my mind.
I like being fed little snippets and trying to solve clues and mysteries.
I like being fed clues of what might happen and figuring it out.
Instead of taking selfies, I’d take shelfies.
If it wasn’t for audiobooks, I wouldn’t be able to read.
When I was around 9 or 10 we had a
bookshelf in the school. I close my eyes
and pulled out an old-fashioned book
with pictures.
I remember weeping when I read it.
Do you think YOU ARE BEING CREATIVE WHEN YOU READ?
DESERT ISLAND BOOKS
Browse our Pinterest board collection of Desert Island Books as chosen by our I Am A Reader workshop participants. Click through from each book cover to where the title can be found on the Inspire Libraries online catalogue!
What other people said…
“I believe that I’m creative during reading because I imagine everything that I need in my head. I see all of the characters, places, views, sometimes I can even imagine how something smells or tastes or how it would feel if it were in my hands.”
“Reading opens the mind to new ideas, new insights and new possibilities - all requirements of a creative mind.”
“Reading is an experience, a journey that takes you somewhere new, it can shape your views, your thoughts, make you want to write, makes you want to experience more, learn more.”
“If the book is absorbing enough it reproduces the sense of ‘flow’ experienced when making something - I’m making believe that I am living in the story.”
“I create pictures from the words in my mind. The written words can only give you so much description, so the rest is creativity.”
“Reading allows us to draw images in our imagination. To go on incredible journeys, or complete unfathomable quests.”
“Reading . . . opens your mind which is creativity in itself.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Our I Am A Reader Readers Groups
Thanks go to our six groups of readers who embraced I Am A Reader with passion and enthusiasm, and gave us a fascinating insight into the way different people read and how they feel about it when they do.
Three of our groups were made up of readers who answered an open call to apply to be a part of the project and were selected to help us capture the thoughts and experiences of adult readers of different ages, from different backgrounds, and with a range of reading styles and tastes.
To ensure a wide variety of voices were heard, our groups also included:
a Neurodiverse Readers Group, working with Writing East Midlands’ Beyond the Spectrum project
readers from Broxtowe Women’s Project
readers from the West Notts area for a place-based group who met at Kirkby-in-Ashfield Library.
As well as talking about their personal approaches to reading, each of our groups also became co-commissioners of a brand new story, created by their writer for, and with input from, the group.
These stories have been published in a very special anthology; Six Stories from I Am A Reader which is available to borrow from Inspire libraries.
With the exception of our West Notts group, all our groups met on Zoom.
Our Project Partners
Inspire would also like to thank the following partners for their support of I Am A Reader: .
Broxtowe Women’s Project (BWP)
BWP is a registered charity that was set up in January 2001 to provide an information and support service for women and their children living in the Borough of Broxtowe who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse.
It provides a confidential helpline, outreach service, training courses and drop-in sessions,
and a variety of well-being programmes all aimed at empowering women and young
people, helping them survive domestic abuse.
To find out more visit: broxtowewomensproject.org.uk
Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature
Nottingham was designated the 20th UNESCO City of Literature in 2015 and is now part of a global network of 39 UNESCO Cities of
Literature across the world.
Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature hosts events, develops programmes, commissions new work and creates new partnerships with schools, libraries, young people and communities to help them discover the sheer creative joy and life-changing power of reading and writing. It shines a spotlight on the Nottingham writers of today and tomorrow, advocates the importance of literacy, brokers opportunities for international collaboration, and showcases Nottingham as a leading destination for lovers of literature.
To find out more visit: nottinghamcityofliterature.com
Writing East Midlands (WEM)
Writing East Midlands is the literature development agency for the region. WEM support writers at all stages in their careers, connecting them with opportunity, and helping them to help themselves.
WEM believe in an open society, which means everyone should have equal access to the means of creativity and expression. These values inform WEM’s work, the areas WEM works in, the people WEM works with, and an ongoing dialogue with contemporary society through programmes and projects.
To find out more visit: writingeastmidlands.co.uk
Five Leaves Bookshop
Five Leaves is one of the few independent bookshops to open in any UK city centre this century.
Located in the centre of Nottingham, it specialises in: cityscape and landscape, politics, fiction and poetry, LGBTQ+, counterculture, international writing and also stocks many magazines and journals. Five Leaves has had a Black Writing/Black Lives section since opening, and its children’s books focus on diversity.
It has been a regional finalist for the British Book Awards, Independent Bookshop of the Year seven years in a row. In 2018, 2019 and 2021 Five Leaves won the Midlands section, and in 2018 won the national final as Independent Bookshop of the Year.
In 2019 Five Leaves won a Nottingham Rainbow Heritage Award for its support for LGBT+ communities in the city.
To find out more visit: fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk
Our Writers
Inspire would like to thank our Writers, Stephan Collishaw, Clare Harvey, Joanne Limburg, Eve Makis, Jacob Ross & Mahsuda Snaith