Ilovereadin!

I spent half my weekend in Blossoms (Church Street). Ask anyone who reads, and they’ll tell you that it is a bibliophile’s paradise. The other half of my weekend I spent reading at Crosswords, which, I am quite sure is going to fast become a habit. I was quite surprised and happy to see so many people there, sitting in their own corners, reading, or choosing books for their kids, encouraging them to read more. I mean absolutely no offence, but to be quite honest, I feel bad when people say they hate books. The absolute joy of being transported to another world at the flick of a page, when you are living in two completely different dimensions at once… Everybody must be able to experience that. I was randomly contemplating the mind-blowing awesomeness of books (I can’t help but use such terms!), when, co-incidentally, two friends mailed me about Ilovereadin.

Ilovereadin, it turns out, is an online library, where you can choose your books online and request a home delivery. They also operate in schools, where the main aim is to get children to read. All their books are chosen by a team of young librarians, who believe that the libraries are places of adventure and not of silence. “A place where boa constrictors eat annoying elephants. Where beautiful women grow wings and fly away. Where little wizards fight dark lords. Where little wizards fall in love with other little wizards…” Based in Chennai, Ilovereadin is now looking for young men and women interested in telling stories, reading books, teaching theatre and influencing school children to read.

Ilovereadin wants people who can work with the library and English department of schools. This is a full time job (7.30 to 4.30, Monday to Friday), and though they are not looking for part time participants, a few days a week is okay. If you take this up, you will be based out of Chennai, and may be required to travel to schools in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, based on need/interest. In Chennai, you will be working with all types of schools – government-owned, private and international.

You need to be a college graduate, fluent in English, passionate about reading as a habit and loves/willing to work with children if you want to apply. If you have a job experience of any kind (1-3 years) or theatre training or any experience in art or music, then that will be helpful as well. Don’t fret if you’ve not done any of this before – Ilovereadin will be training you in collaboration with theatre groups based in Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore.

All you have to do is to send a simple one-page resume to [email protected] with cc to [email protected] and [email protected] with the subject “Job-application: Story-teller”. If you have any queries or want more details, you can call Amrutash at 09940668512.

If you know someone who’d be interested in taking this up, do spread the word. I think that this is an awesome initiative these people have taken up –  Way to go, Ilovereadin!!! Pratham Books is glad to have found kindred spirits in you!