Tw Letteratura – Social Reading Hugs Europe

Social reading is the practice of commenting on literature through digital devices. Starting from Lombardy and Piedmont, two main European epicenters of the COVID19 outbreak, the ‘Twitterature’ will engage European teachers and students to read together 10 passages of literature representing the essence of European identity on their self developed app Betwyll. This collective reading builds up on three previous projects (funded by Compagnia di San Paolo) that Associazione Culturale Twitteratura implemented in Italy from Spring 2018 onwards involving 200 classes of students from 14 regions. The students engaged through these projects were able to write more than 25,000 comments and were involved in dozens of events and school activities related to the texts they read. Interestingly enough, notwithstanding where and when the texts were set, their comments were also rich of suggestions and opinions about the present life as European citizens.

This strengthens Twitteratura’s belief that, in order to revive a European culture of solidarity between citizens from different nations, it is important to act at a deeper level, fostering the awareness of the core values defining the European identity as a whole and that literature and reading are perfect to enhance the awareness of solidarity as a form of respect and inclusion towards different cultures and identities.

This project receives a grant within the special collaboration in the Fund between the European Cultural Foundation and Fondazione CRT.