Topics of the World

Picture Postcards: Reading the newspaper in India

Today’s literacy-related photo was sent in by our contributor in India, Anu. She says:

I clicked this one at a wedding I attended recently. the kid in the centre is my son and next to him are two of his cousins. and the one reading over their shoulder is a cousin of ours. it just illustrates the continuing importance of newspapers in our day to day life, at least in India. Even in the hustle of a wedding, they looked around for a newspaper and pored over it.. in case you are wondering what they were so absorbed in, it is the only game which brings out the best and worst in us – Cricket!! the IPL tournament was on, and all of them were eager to know the scores!!!

More reading and books:
A reading room at Ana’s house
Reading your way around the world
Marcel, writing and discovering his own heritage

Historic Plaza de Mayo

Due to its strategic location, Plaza de Mayo has been the focal point of Argentinean political life from early on. The plaza is surrounded by the presidential palace (Casa Rosada, or Pink House), the historic Cabildo (town hall), the headquarters of Nación Bank, ministerial buildings, the cathedral, the secret service building, the Internal Revenue offices and the modern town hall.

View of Plaza de Mayo from the Cabildo. At the far end is the presidential palace, or Pink House

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Picture Postcards: A room of books

This photo is by Loozerboy on Flickr and was snapped in Toronto, Canada. I can just imagine a cozy chair inside to sit and read, can’t you?

More:
A reading room at Ana’s house
The oldest public library in Paris
The children’s cultural book section in an Auckland library

Buenos Aires’ Comic Lane

Comic Lane is the latest addition to the urban landscape of the city of Buenos Aires. The local council decided to celebrate iconic characters that have delighted many generations of Argentineans by placing colourful fiberglass sculptures in the neighbourhood of San Telmo, mainly along Defensa, Balcarce and Chile streets. The sculptures are strategically placed so that they lead visitors to the Museo del Humor (Argentinean Comic Strip Museum – Avenida de los Italianos 851) in Puerto Madero.

From left to right: Mafalda, Isidoro Canones, Larguirucho (and me!)

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Picture Postcards: Reading room at Ana’s house

Today’s reading and literacy related photo comes to us from our Contributing Editor, Ana, who is letting us have a peek into her own house. Looks like a great reading spot, Ana!

More:
Children’s Cultural Book Section in an Auckland Library
A Chalkboard in Kazakhstan
The Oldest Library in Paris

A month of books, reading and writing

During May we tried something new, with a theme of books, reading and writing throughout the site. In case you missed anything, here’s a roundup of PocketCultures book month. Thanks to Celia, PocketCultures contributor in Kazakhstan, for suggesting the topic.

Art installation at ArteBA 2012. Photo by Ana O'Reilly

On Picture Postcards we peeked at a free library housed in a container from New Zealand, the oldest public library in Paris, a chalkboard in Kazakhstan and a children’s culture section in a public library, again in New Zealand.

For a special collaborative post on books from around the world our contributors recommended books which represent each of their countries in some way.

On People of the World we interviewed a couple of people who are writing books: Alexey from Russia, who wrote his novella on his frequent train trips between Moscow and St Petersburg whilst working for a telecoms company, and Marcel, who is writing a book about the extraordinary life of his grandmother.

On Topics of the World, our Italian contributors Simona and Caterina both had something to say. In Italy is younger than you think, Simona explains a bit of Italy’s recent history, including origin of the Italian language as we know it, while Caterina shares her love of books, in particular one well known book about Italy, Forster’s A Room with a View.

And finally, some good news for book lovers: Ana wrote about the stunning Libreria El Ateneo in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which is housed in an old theatre, and full of people buying books.

Read more:
Jorge Luis Borges: Argentina’s most influential author
Games for kids of the world: a free ebook from the PocketCultures team
Hand gestures from around the world