Drogheda Reads Roddy Doyle

Banks. The city of Chicago has really taken to this idea, celebrating two books per year for the last ten years, with Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ their first choice. A number of communities in Ireland have also undertaken this initiative. It was on the strength of this knowledge that it came up for discussion at our HSCL Local Committee meeting on 11th May 2011. The Local Committee meeting is held each term in a different school covered by the scheme. It involves representatives from schools and the wider community, who have an interest in youth and educational matters in our town. Following on from past initiatives, such as the Rainbow sites in the town and a peer education programme, it was decided by those present that there should be a focus on this idea for the school year 2011-2012. A sub-committee was formed on that day with representatives from schools, HSCL, SCP, Louth Leader Partnership, the VEC and other interested parties. Following a series of meetings by this sub group it was decided to try to appeal to as many people as possible by choosing books to cater for the different age groups in our community. Having researched many authors, it was decided that a number of Roddy Doyle’s books would be chosen, as he has titles which are suitable for primary schools, secondary schools and adults. As a well known, current, Irish author, with a wide range of books, Roddy Doyle ticked all of the boxes for the project. We are currently working under the title of ‘One Town, One Author’. The goal of the project are to promote literacy and a sense of community and belonging to all participants. All you have to do to be a part of it is read a book from the suggested titles during the time period. All schools will be invited to participate, not only those in the HSCL scheme. It is hoped that family resource centres, senior citizen groups and adult literacy groups will become involved. We are actively seeking local and national coverage by various media. The sub - group has also undertaken to contact local booksellers and shopping centres to promote the project. It is hoped that the Drogheda Library, The Highlanes Gallery, The Droichead Arts Centre and many other bodies will get involved. The author himself, Roddy Doyle, has committed to visiting Drogheda during the project, with the Barbican Centre being proposed as a possible launch venue in December. We envisage the reading period to be in January and February, with the dates to be finalised. Perhaps a badge or bookmark will be produced to promote the sense of belonging to this town-wide project. It is hoped that there will be an event for each week of the reading period. The books we have chosen are:

1. ‘The Rover Adventures’ (The Giggler Treatment, Rover saves Christmas, The Meanwhile Adventures) - suitable for Junior and Middle Primary

2. ‘Wilderness’ - suitable for Senior Primary and Junior Secondary

3. 'The Last Roundup' trilogy (‘A star called Henry’, ‘Oh , Play That Thing’, ‘The Dead Republic’) - suitable for Senior Secondary

4. ‘Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha’ - suitable for Senior Secondary

5. ‘The Barrytown Trilogy’ (The Commitments, The Van, The Snapper) - suitable for Senior Secondary and Adults

Our project will be launched on Friday 2nd on December 2011 at 11.00am in the Barbican centre on William Street, Drogheda.