Asian Librarians and Advisers Group

Cityread London is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens by encouraging Londoners to read the chosen title: Oliver Twist. A wide range of activities for adults and children are on offer throughout April 2012 and details of what is happening in your borough can be found here:

http://www.cityreadlondon.org.uk/index.html                            

ALAG have also had a major input in the celebrations as we have provided a translated summary of the Oliver Twist story in Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Panjabi, Urdu and Tamil. Most of the translations have been done by ALAG members to ensure that the programmes on offer are inclusive and cater for the diverse populations throughout London. These translations have created quite a buzz as can be seen by clicking on the link below to view an article publised in Asian Image news:

http://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/united_kingdom/9599403.Dickens_in_Urdu__Punjabi_and_Gujarati_/

So far Brent, Hounslow, Harrow, Greenwich and Haringey have taken up the offer to purchase the translations but as the celebrations continue throughout 2012 it is expected that other library authorities outside of London will also want to make them available for their reading groups.