The book industry is mourning the end of Barack Obama’s presidency. Obama was a powerful advocate for the importance of books and regularly released lists of books that had influenced him and that he was reading. Often they went on to become bestsellers because of his endorsements. He and his family made regular and public visits to independent bookstores in the Washington area, although a 2013 visit to an Amazon fulfilment centre sent bricks-and-mortar booksellers into a frenzy. In an interview with The New York Times just before the end of his presidency, Obama reflected that reading gave him the ability to occasionally ‘slow down and get perspective’ and ‘the ability to get in somebody else’s shoes.’ The author of two books, Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope, as well as contributor to other works, including Change We Can Believe In, Obama revealed that he will be working on his memoirs. In Australia Obama’s books have been published by Text; they will no doubt be hoping that they get a crack at publishing his memoirs. By the way, rumour has it that President Trump proudly does not read books.

As the world struggles to understand the import of Donald Trump’s election, three books give some insight into the alienation of the white, working-class voters who flocked to Trump’s message: the late Joe Bageant’s Deer Hunting with Jesus, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance and Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild. They are all well worth having a look at.

In late January, The Readings Foundation manager, Leanne Hall, and I spent the day meeting with recipients of our 2017 grants, hearing about their projects and, most importantly, giving them their cheques. It was a gruelling yet inspiring day learning about the various issues the organisations deal with and the often selfless efforts on the part of the organisations and their volunteers. It’s humbling hearing about the work these people do to make a difference to the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves. The Readings Foundation grant funding focuses strongly on organisations that are delivering literacy and education support to the most disadvantaged people in our community, from as near as Carlton to as far away as Ballarat. This year we gave grants totalling $148k to 11 organisations. We had 67 applications; sadly many more than we could fund. The money comes from 10% of Readings’ profits and from donations, including those our customers make for gift wrapping.

We started The Readings Foundation in 2009 to mark Readings 40th birthday and since then have made grants totalling $920,000. In the first year of funding we distributed $50k to four organisations, so the Foundation has grown considerably in those years. In addition, we have built up a corpus of $320,000 and our aim is to build that to $1 million by our 50th birthday in 2019 to enable the Foundation to support deserving organisations in perpetuity.

This year’s recipients included organisations both new and known to us. We gave the African Communities Foundation Australia $15,000 to run a weekly Seniors Homework Club in Collingwood and Carlton for students in Years 7–12. Possibly like you, I’d never heard of the African Communities Foundation; it was founded in 1998 to assist people to deal with issues of settlement. Until 2015 it was largely funded by the federal government under the Settlement Grants Program but was largely defunded in 2015 and had to close most of its operations, including a centre in Noble Park which provided a point of contact and support for young people from the African community. The government’s rationale for the defunding was that the number of African migrants had declined, but as the African Communities Foundation points out there continues to be a lot required to help families and young people become part of the Australian community. We often read about disengaged African youth and the problems that disengagement creates; to end assistance to the community leaders and organisations seems just plain crazy to me.

I’m also excited about our funding for Tarrengower Chapters; it’s a book club for women who are incarcerated at Tarrengower Women’s Prison in Maldon. It helps them to make connections, voice opinions and ideas and gain emotional sustenance. The club has been going for a number of years but The Readings Foundation support will allow it to increase and enhance its activities. A few years ago we helped them organise a visit by Alex Miller to the prison after the club had read Alex’s novel Coal Creek. We got wonderful reports back from both the women and Alex. Alex’s new novel, The Passage of Love, which Allen & Unwin will publish in October, opens with the protagonist about to visit a book club at a women’s prison.

Odyssey House is also new to The Readings Foundation. We are supporting their Kids in Focus program which provides a range of intensive services to families affected by parental alcohol and other drug problems. Berry Street is setting up a new school in Ballarat for vulnerable young people aged 12–18 who have dropped out of the education system. Our grant of $17,900 will help their Readers and Writers program. Other organisations that received grants include Banksia Gardens Community Services, Carlton’s Church of All Nations, Preston Reservoir Adult Community Education, the River Nile Learning Centre, the Smith Family and the Brotherhood of St Laurence.

We also assisted the Brotherhood last year in their inaugural Hope Prize for stories about resilience and survival in the face of adversity. Over 1000 entries were received and the shortlist was judged by Quentin Bryce, Cate Blanchett and Kate Grenville. The winning entries were published by Simon & Schuster as Hope: An Anthology and went on to be one of our top sellers at Christmas.

Finally, for the last six years the Foundation has funded the Wheeler Centre Hot Desk Fellowships. Emerging writers receive a stipend of $1000 and a dedicated desk at the Wheeler Centre for 10 weeks. I was very pleased to see that three books by the alumni of the program were published last year to very positive reviews: Our Magic Hour by Jennifer Down, Ruins by Rajith Savanadasa and The Love of a Bad Man by Laura Elizabeth Woollett.

And all this couldn’t have been achieved without our wonderful Readings customers and family. Thank you!

Mark Rubbo