We want to engender a thirst for knowledge and a passion for excellence
We campaign against the devaluation of intelligence by inviting influencers and thought leaders in the country to post pictures of themselves reading a book on their social media accounts with the following hashtags:
#[NameofInfluencer]Reads
#ReadingCultureNG
#TitleofBook
#Author’sName
This gesture will inspire a conversation about the role models and the books they are reading on social media, with the expected outcome of influencing the youth to pick up such books and go read them as well. The influencers are also encouraged to share their images and learning points from such reading to make the books trend.
The Literary Renaissance Foundation actively campaigns against the devaluation of intelligence in Nigeria and works to be the catalysts for the emergence of a new generation of thought-leaders and influencers, who love books and learning, across all sectors.
We visit public and private schools, elementary and high schools, to encourage the students to read and make reading a daily habit. To make this effective, we freely distribute books and learning materials received from donors and partners to the students and encourage them to read and send in their learning points to our designated portal for review. The best entries are given appropriate prizes.
We hold a quarterly citizen engagement deliberation where we invite stakeholders in the book and learning sectors to discuss issues and developments pertaining to the reading culture and learning environments in the country. Through these deliberations, we come up with possible policy options that will be suggested to regulators and policymakers for adoption.
Since our inception, we have been organising a monthly book reading session on Zoom where Nigerian authors of varied orientations and genres have been invited to read excerpts of their works to an online audience.
This session is also streamed live on social media for others to join. It is an event that allows people to enjoy a live, shared literary experience from the comfort of their homes.
As we continue to grow our network, this monthly reading will become a general platform where all members from different hubs can meet up to read, share and learn more about one another.
We are setting up reading hubs in major cities across the country where people can come together on a regular basis to read and share ideas from their readings. The hubs comprise different social contexts including families, colleagues in offices, friends, and other associations of people who have agreed to band together for the purpose of learning and sharing.
This programme is a low-cost initiative. Each hub is tasked with the responsibility of organising its own reading sessions virtually and/or physically. They are also tasked with the assignment of visiting schools in their locality to distribute books, encourage the students to read, and help them in setting up book clubs in their schools.
We have a strong interest in promoting reading among school pupils and students across the country. To that end, we are setting up book clubs in schools. Where there are existing book clubs, we adopt them into our network for ease of administration and support.
We desire to support a reading culture among these young people not just through facilitating a shared reading experience in these book clubs but also, with the help of sponsors, volunteers, partners and funders, by distributing learning aids and materials such as books, computers, e-reading devices and other educational materials.
We undertake special competitions for students in elementary schools to encourage them to read. This programme is similar to Spelling Bee competitions. However, in this case, the students are given a selection of books at each stage of the competition and spelling questions are asked from those books.
This programme is also held in elementary schools. The emphasis is on encouraging schoolchildren to read at least 10 works of literature before they turn 10. The initiatives will be incentivised so that participants and winners will win prizes.
This programme is targeted at secondary school students who will be challenged to read 16 works of literature before they turn 16. As they read, they will also be encouraged to open a journal documenting their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on each work and upload some of these on a dedicated platform. They can also add multimedia files to their uploads such as photos, drawings, audio and video recordings.
This project aims at presenting the works of William Shakespeare in a modern, easy-to-read-and-enjoy style while engaging students in tertiary institutions to do the writing, with prizes given to the best entries.