As part of the Nit de la Recerca (Research Night), on September 25th, the event “Reading with Roots and Wings” was held in the assembly hall of the Pilarín Bayés Library in Vic. This gathering focused on children’s and young adult literature as a tool to address cultural diversity and social inequalities, and also served to present the European research project Zoom Out. Coordinated by UVic-UCC and funded by the Erasmus+ programme, this project invites to reflect on how children’s literature contributes to shaping children’s imagination and how it can be used as a tool to question inequality.
After a moment of tribute to remember Laura Marsó, director of La Sínia, who passed away this summer, Mireia Escobar, the current director of the school, explained how the project had helped to gain a deeper understanding of multiple inequalities in the classroom, giving voice to children through various methods and using stories as an educational resource. During the event, a video was shown in which children from the school shared their reasons for reading and how they identified with the characters in the books and stories they read.
The event also featured the presentation of two projects launched by the Pilarín Bayés Library: “Beyond Comics”, aimed at promoting reading among primary school students through reading clubs, and “With All the Senses”, a project designed to encourage family reading among the youngest children at home. In addition, three videos developed within the framework of the project were screened in different languages, with the Amazigh and Arabic versions premiered publicly for the first time. These videos invite reflection on the role of literature in shaping identity:
Zoom Out. Children’s literature & Inequalities
The presentations were followed by a dialogue with Salah Haddad and Sumia El Bachiri, in which they shared their personal experiences with reading during their school years, discussing which books had a lasting impact on them during childhood and how they felt represented in the stories they read. Drawing an analogy with Homer’s Odyssey, the event concluded with a presentation by Bassirou Balde, who shared his own odyssey—from his hometown in Senegal to his arrival in Vic.
This activity was co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the project NitRecerCat2425 (101162003).