World Read Aloud Day

As followers of The Reader Organisation's Reading Revolution will be aware, a very important part of what we do is reading aloud with people. There is something inherently special about reading aloud which allows literature to come to life, resonate and connect us more closely with texts and others around us. That's why we're especially happy to note that today is World Read Aloud Day.

The fact remains that across the world there are at least 793 million people who are illiterate, shut off from the world of wonder reading holds. LitWorld, a global literacy organisation based in New York, founded World Read Aloud Day in March 2010 as an awareness movement advocating literacy as a fundamental right that belongs to all people, but also as a day to motivate children, teenagers and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another. Since it was founded, World Read Aloud Day has gone from strength to strength; last year, World Read Aloud Day was celebrated in 60 countries and involved 200,000 participants. This year, the aim is to reach a million participants or more around the world, creating a global community of readers that educate, advocate and innovate when it comes to reading aloud, highlighting everyone's right to access books.

For The Reader Organisation, reading aloud is not just a way of getting around problems with reading: it is a highly enriching experience in its own right, generating particular and unique responses amongst individuals and groups. Experiences that were individual are opened up, leading to reading becoming a rich, communal experience that addresses the most basic of our human needs.

We are delighted to celebrate World Read Aloud Day by becoming a WRADvocate Partner of World Read Aloud Day for 2012, joining a worldwide community of brilliant organisations advocating reading aloud for everyone.

We're also celebrating through the launch of our latest Evening Read-In, the read-aloud-and-along shared reading event held on our social media networks which takes reading aloud to a worldwide scale, tomorrow evening.

Make sure you mark World Read Aloud Day by reading something aloud to someone you love and help spread the word about the importance of reading aloud.