Fight Against Illiteracy in Nice
Reading For All: Nice writers fight illiteracy
As part of his fight against illiteracy and promotion of literary culture, Christian Estrosi, Deputy Mayor of Nice, President of Nice, established in 2008 with Raoul Mille, Councillor delegate to literature and fight against illiteracy, meetings between writers and scholars. This action entitled "Reading for All", continues this year. The presentation and complete program took place at the Villa Massena in the presence of writers Didier Van Cauwelaert, Bruno de Cessole, Fariba Hachtroudi, Aurélie de Gubernatis and Bernard Deloupy. In three years, more than 20 writers came to visit 237 classrooms, reaching 5,713 students and a few hundred people in libraries, associations, entertainment centers for recreation and festivals. During the school year 2010/2011, 64 schools were concerned and 2,859 students have benefited from "Reading for All". Its aim is to give all the desire, the pleasure of reading, so as not to leave anyone in a position of inferiority or dependence because the book is a tool against intolerance and racism, it transmits values of living together, rules of life, rights and duties, the moral in a noble sense of the term. Mr Christian Estrosi said through reading and writing " anything can become possible, a book is so magical". During the presentation of this new season of "Reading for All " at the Villa Massena, he read one of the new short stories written by18 students and published by the city. Reading is a promise of writing. And for Bernard Deloupy, author of several thrillers about Nice (at Nice Matin Gilleta), it is also a critical weapon against manipulators, demagogues and other gurus. Another novelty: in accordance with the writing workshop of the prison of Nice, writer René Fregni, specialist in writing workshops at the Beaumettes prison in Marseille, will meet in October the prisoners volunteers. Moreover, some 'youth' writers, claimed by teachers, will intervene with schools, colleges and high schools in May 2012.
Nice is the only city in France to build such an operation of fight against illiteracy in classrooms, from elementary to high school with the aim to make young people love the literature, by some work on the imagination, aroused by writers.
