reading for change
Books have been our windows to the world for the past several centuries. Books can also be a window into the many futures of the planet. In this series, we used books as an entry point to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to explore them as facets of our daily lives and not only as distant landmarks in space and time. Over one year Champaca Bookstore, Science Gallery Bengaluru and Bengaluru Sustainability Forum presented a collection of books that closely relate to the themes of the SDGs. We opened up these books in a monthly discussion to connect them with the SDGs, the city and you, the people of the city.
As this event took place during the Covid pandemic, all the events were conducted online.
list of sessions
Scavengers by Darren Simpson
The first discussion by Lakshmi Karunakaran and Seema Mundoli takes Darren Simpson’s “Scavengers” as an entry point to SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities. How is life for people who live their entire life in the shadows of others, yet without them the city could not sustain?
Watch the discussion here.
SDG 11
Sustainable Cities & Communities
Inferior by Angela Saini
Author Angela Saini and neuroscientist Vidita Vaidya use the book, Inferior, as an entry point to discuss gender equality and women in science. In the book, the author explores the extent to which sexism impacts scientific research. Delving into studies in fields like biology, psychology and anthropology, Saini challenges our preconceptions about men and women and their so-called fundamental differences.
SDG 5
Gender Equality
Spillover by David Quammen
Where and why do new pathogens emerge? How do they turn into a pandemic? David Quammen explores these questions in Spillover, an accessible and well-researched book about pathogen spreads before Covid-19.
This edition was co-hosted with www.covid-gyan.in
SDG 3
Good Health and Wellbeing
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Teachers
Author S. Giridhar and Uma Mahadevan (Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj to the GoK) in conversation about Ordinary People, Extraordinary Teachers and SDG 4, and the importance and the challenges of creating a space for quality education.
SDG 4
Quality Education
I Will Save My Land by Rinchin
This picture book tells the story of Mati, a young girl determined to save her family’s plot of land from the impending development of a coal mine. Author Rinchin and activist-researcher Shripad Dharmadhikary discuss the book in the context of conflicts and concerns around affordable and clean energy.
SDG 7
Affordable and Clean Energy
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom
Author Kai Cheng Thom and writer and researcher Nadika Nadja are in conversation about Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars, F a playful and surreal fictionalized trans memoir, and its relevance to SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities.
SDG 10
Reduced Inequalities