Fill the World With Words

5 minute read
Author: Jo
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Oh hey.

Feeling the capitalist ennui? Yeah. Us too.

Want to do something bookish and lovely and literary that helps to save the world instead of throwing cash at giant evil corporations that are trying to murder the planet? Yeah. Us too.

Cool. Ok. Let’s do it.

Got a bit of spare money to throw at good causes? Do these things:

Do you believe that everyone deserves books in their life? Oh hey, us too. And so do all these fine charitable enterprises:

  • Arts Emergency – donate towards funding a nationwide service for working class students in the arts and humanities.
  • Bag Books – donate towards creating multi-sensory books and storytelling aids for children and adults with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities (you can also help for free by collecting items to use in multi-sensory books!).
  • Book Aid International – donate towards sending books to street children all over the world and help them lift themselves out of poverty.
  • Booktrust – donate to send books to children who are vulnerable or in care.
  • Living Paintings – donate to bring the visual world to life for blind and partially sighted children and adults by creating ‘touch to sea’ books.
  • National Literacy Trust – donate to support communities, schools, parents and children and give them the literacy skills they need to succeed.
  • Storybook Dads – donate to help parents in prison record bedtime stories for their children and take part in creative workshops to make pop-up books and comics to send to their kids.
  • The Book Bus – donate towards books, fuel, tyres, training, classroom libraries, or an entire bus full of lovely books to support reading and increase literacy in Zambia, Malawi and Ecuador.
  • Read For Good – donate towards sending books to children in hospitals and schools, sponsor a pupil, and support other great literacy projects.
  • Room to Read – donate to transform the lives of millions of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education.
  • Writers’ HQ – Sponsor a Writer – (oh look, it’s us!) donate to give a struggling writer the opportunity to attend writing retreats, take online writing courses, and develop their writing within THE most supportive literary community in the world…

Poor in cash but rich in books and heart? Do these things for free:

Oh you generous soul, there are so many things you can do for zero pennies, providing you are full of niceness and possibly already have a  healthy book collection. Here are just a few of em:

  • Donate books to a children’s hospital, or a nursing home, or a women’s shelter, or a school, or a homeless shelter, or a charity shop, or a prison. Or pack up your unwanted books and send ’em to Books2Africa.
  • Fancy some ninja gifting? Try some literary littering and make the world better, one book at a time…
  • Collect items for Bag Books to turn into multi-sensory books and storytelling aids for children and adults with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities.
  • Be a good writer/reader-friend and pass on the literary love: leave a glowing review or write a letter to an author you love; offer feedback to a writer in need (check out our beta reading forum!); start a book group or writing group or critique circle and watch those beautiful book vibes grow…
  • Or go one step further and set up a little free library in your area to encourage freebie book swaps!

Still kinda need to participate in the capitalist machine because Christmas/real life etc but don’t want to feel guilty about it? Do these things: 

Instead of clicking straight to Amazon for your latest book fix, go to your local indie bookshop instead. Say hi to the nice booksellers there. Ask them for a book recommendation. Have a little literary chat. Stroke the lovely books. Sniff them. Whisper sweet nothings to them. Support a small business. Yes. Plenty of ’em also offer online shopping, and if they don’t, you can always buy through Hive or Bookshop.org– a portion of every sale goes to an indie bookshop of your choice. Win:win.

Find your nearest independent book shop here or here

If you’re a short fiction writer/reader, or have literary friends and family to buy for, boy are you spoilt for choice when it comes to literary magazines, journals and anthologies. There are THOUSANDS out there, to suit every bookish palate, and supporting lit mags is one of the best things you can do for the writing community. Don’t believe us? READ THIS BLOG. They also make excellent presents – small, cheap, and full of magical story nuggets…

Become complicit in our altruistic marketing scam by clicking here. Yes, sure, you’re feeding OUR capitalist machine but that’s okay because we only really spend it on books anyway so it kind of evens out, right?

Wow, so many ways to feed your bookity soul. Very lit. Much wordy. Mmm. Nice.

Pick one. Do something wholesome. Pass on the love of words.

<3

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