The world moves in mysterious ways sometimes. Some time ago, we received a complaint from the Anti Defamation Commission (ADC) about some wrapping paper on sale in our St Kilda shop. Produced and designed in the UK, the paper featured a series of ‘quaint’ illustrations of characters from history and contemporary popular culture. At a glance, it seemed just the ticket to wrap a gift in. But if you looked more closely, wedged between Star Wars’ 3-CPO and Madonna, was Hitler. An elderly Holocaust survivor, browsing at St Kilda, stumbled across it and was very upset – how could the evil of the Holocaust be trivialised by portraying Hitler as a cute emoji? When the ADC called, we were equally shocked; no one had looked closely enough to notice. The incident resulted in a long conversation with Dvir Abramovich, chair of the Anti Defamation Commission, about their work combating racism in the community, and programs they run in schools to combat anti-Semitism and racism. As a result, Readings has joined with the ADC to start a new program, Reading Against Hate, which encourages young people to read books that will inspire them to respect inclusivity and tolerance, and take action to counter hate. Schools that take part in the program will be given Readings vouchers to purchase books recommended by us and the Commission. Last month, we joined Dvir to make our first presentation, to Gardenvale Primary School in Melbourne’s south.

JB Were’s John McLeod, a passionate advocate for effective, meaningful philanthropy, has become the Australian expert. Our Readings Foundation manager, Leanne Hall, and I have had several conversations with John about the future direction of the Readings Foundation. There’s been an increase in the number of Private Ancillary Funds (charitable funds set by private individuals and families). John suggested that, with our experience in identifying needs in the literacy sphere, we should reach out to funds that might have similar aims. By pooling resources, he argued, we could achieve greater outcomes. ‘Talk about it in your magazine!’ he said. Until now, we haven’t – but we were recently excited to receive two substantial donations from such funds. So if any readers out there with a fund want to support literacy and the arts, we’d welcome a chat about working together.

Bob Dylan finally gave his Nobel Lecture last month. When he found out about his Nobel Prize for Literature, he pondered how his songs related to literature. Themes from books important to him have worked their way into many of his songs, whether knowingly or unintentionally. He wanted to write songs unlike anything anybody ever heard: these themes were fundamental to that process. He talks about three books that influenced him: Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front and The Odyssey. ‘Ultimately, if a song moves you, that’s all that’s important. I don’t have to know what a song means,’ he says. ‘Songs are unlike literature. They’re meant to be sung, not read.’ So does he think he should have won the Nobel? Perhaps not.

You can listen to the lecture here.

Mark Rubbo