24/01/18 Shay Given to launch Read DL 2018

Shay Given

Soccer hero and recently named Donegal Person of the Year Shay Given will be in Donegal next week for the launch of this year’s Read DL initiative.

Read DL will see hundreds of children and young people from 77 schools across Donegal including 6 youth reach centres and 10 ETB Learning for Living Centres taking part in what has become an incredibly successful community literacy initiative. 

Read DL is a county-wide reading movement, designed to bring the people of Donegal together by collectively reading the same book.  It aims to foster a love of reading, encourage people, young and old, to not only read more but to read the same book and to share ideas and perspectives.

According to Paddy Hannigan, Secretary of the Organising Committee, Read DL is all about reminding us of the joy of reading and to have someone like Shay Given launch this year’s initiative is a massive boost.

“To have Shay Given launch this year’s initiative is a huge endorsement for us and will undoubtedly raise the profile of the initiative among our target group which includes senior classes in primary schools, first year students in post primary schools, Youthreach learners and adults re-discovering the love of reading,” says Paddy Hannigan.

This year’s chosen book is ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness.  It is a low fantasy novel written for children, from an original idea by Siobhan Dowd, illustrated by Jim Kay, and published by Walker in 2011.

The Storyline centres around a young boy called Conor. The monster does not come walking often. This time it comes to Conor, and it asks for the one thing Conor cannot bring himself to do. Tell the truth. This is a very touching story about a boy who feels very damaged, guilty and mostly angry. He struggles at school with bullies, and pity looks from everyone, and at home with his mother's sickness. Will Conor overcome his problems? Will everything be okay? Will Conor be able to speak the truth?

Getting involved

Registration for group participation in this year’s programme is now closed, but individual copies of the book are available at your local library. Visit www.donegallibrary.ie to reserve your copy. You can also visit www.readdonegal.com for further information and learning activities to accompany ‘A Monster Calls’ and previous READ DL titles. Stay up to date by following Read DL on Facebook @readdlsocial and Twitter @ReadDonegal.

Read DL 2018 will be officially launched at a closed ceremony on Friday 2nd February at Central Library, Letterkenny at 7pm.