One Book One London is starting a conversation across the Forest City. The most recent book just launched to the community is The Marrow Thieves by Canadian-Metis author, Cherie Dimaline. Local Librarian, Kristen Caschera says it’s perfect timing for Indigenous Awareness week.
‘There’s a lot of heartache and a lot of hurt and challenges and all that kind of stuff to unpack from this novel. It brings a lot of that stuff to the forefront in maybe a way people wouldn’t necessarily think about. So we really wanted to bring this book to our city and to our population and have people read about that.”
Local Librarian, Kristen Caschera with featured novel The Marrow Thieves.
The reading initiative encourages Londoner’s to read a collective tittle as a community and join in on workshops as the reading goes on. All novels are about different issues in society that can relate to our everyday lives. Caschera says the Canadian novel discusses residential schools, reconciliation and life as an Indigenous person.
“We knew that we wanted to highlight an Indigenous author and highlight a book that talked about Indigenous issues and people facing Indigenous issues all over Canada.”
Although the reading initiative is rather new, it has been well received by Londoner’s. Community participation has grown over there last two featured books. Caschera says that they make the program a fun way to discuss the tough topics in life and opens reader’s eyes to societal issues with the power of reading. Caschera talks about future goals of the program
“There are really important books to communicate with our community about. Going forward hopefully we can find books that help to talk about issues and different topics. There’s definitely value bringing issues to people’s awareness and through reading and reading fiction.”
Caschera also adds that One Book One London encourages Londoner’s to not only read Canadian books, but keep Canadian literature alive and current. Many community partners, including Fanshawe, Western and Museum London lend a hand in reaching the student crowd with the London Public Library’s One Book One London project. You can pick up a copy of The Marrow Thieves at your local library and become a part of the conversation.
