That today’s youth doesn’t read, they say. That is read less and less, they insist. I don’t know what kind of adolescence those people who pontificate apocalyptically about reading rates had. It certainly shouldn’t have been like my grandmothers, who were never taught to read. Not like my mother’s and so many women like her, without books and with many hours of work in the workshops or in the fields. It must not have been like mine either, seeing so many friends get their degree anyway and run to work in Moidecar, Porcelanosa or any other factory that fed the construction monster.
I suppose that these people’s classmates must have had magnificent libraries in their homes that they devoured with fervor. Maybe they read conscientiously during playgrounds instead of playing or flirting. Maybe they commented on Dostoyevsky on weekends in the park eating pipes. Who knows.
The truth is that the majority of those who shared a classroom with me in high school barely read the required books for language subjects. And, in several cases, not even that – it is not impossible to obtain the Baccalaureate degree without having read a single book, I assure you.
However, a large part of today’s students browse any bookshelf within their reach, actively participate in reading and writing communities such as Wattpad or follow musical idols turned literary prescribers on social networks – from Rosalía to Dua Lipa – .
Youth – and not only youth – is what gives audiences to the very numerous podcasts about books that have landed on the platforms in recent times: Sonorous Punctures, Too Many Women, Ciberlocutorio, Gent ràndom…
Our territory has been filled with new bookstores coordinated by young people in love with literature, while many of the old ones have adapted wonderfully well to current cultural revitalization strategies. Both have built strong networks, present cultural programs full of events that are attended by the public, and have reading clubs that are attended by people of all ages and that manage to turn reading practices into community experiences.
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That’s why I don’t understand what they mean when they say that today’s youth don’t read. That is read less and less.
On April 24, the Alicante Book Fair began; on the 25th, the Fira del Llibre de València; and on the 26th, that of Castelló. Have these people walked through Plaza Seneca, the Jardines del Real or Plaza Santa Clara over the weekend?
I, who now live in Valencia and am a language and literature teacher, can assure you that walking through Viveros, among the bookstore booths, made my heart jump with enthusiasm. Anyone who has seen the enormous number of people gathered to listen to Sara Torres or get excited about Paco Roca knows that the Fira is a success and that today’s youth do read, that they read more and more.
Let’s not let them convince us otherwise.
