World Book Night 2021
Romford Change Makers are Celebrating World Book Night 2021 with a series of readings from Stories to Make You Smile, a co-commission between the reading agency and Specsavers
Carrie is reading a passage from Richard Madeley's Job Opportunity, one of 10 brilliant Stories to Make You Smile, a co-commission between the reading agency and Specsavers, as part of World Book Night 2021.
Carrie is currently studying for a master’s degree in film studies. She spends most of her time either watching films or reading a book and loves film adaptations! She speaks Spanish and Portuguese and tries to keep connected to the language by reading in them. Carrie told us: "My favourite reading genre is horror, although I often find myself reading a lot of autobiographies from directors and actors I like. My favourite book is Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. I enjoy setting a yearly goal of books to read, this year I aim to read 20 books and I have already read 6!
Sophie is reading a passage from Mark Watson's Schooled, one of 10 brilliant Stories to Make You Smile, a co-commission between the reading agency and Specsavers, as part of World Book Night 2021.
Sophie, is 26 and another volunteer steering group member for Havering Changing in Romford. This means that, along with the 8 other members, she has the chance to try different creative activities to help inspire a new arts programme for Romford. The Romford Change Makers are all Romford residents, and with the help of area worker Julia, they bring creativity to the community – you might have seen the beautiful window display in the Hope for Havering shop - or the live window garden workshop that took place in the market before Easter. Sophie loves books by Irish author Cathy Kelly, as she has a talent for storytelling through creating strong female characters and Sophie's favourite book by her is The House on Willow Street.
Julia is reading the opening passage from Jenny Eclair's Behind My Fat Back, one of 10 brilliant Stories to Make You Smile, a co-commission between the reading agency and Specsavers, as part of World Book Night 2021.
Julia is the Havering Changing area worker for Romford who facilitates the steering group, The Romford Change Makers. Julia has been a huge fan of reading and literature since childhood and attributes this to being introduced to high quality children's literature from a young age. She told us: "I was an avid fan of the Ladybird series of fairytales before I could even read, followed by my Mum's old original copies of Enid Blyton books. Many an afternoon was spent in my bedroom, escaping to the Faraway Tree or losing myself in my own imagination as the sixth member of the Famous Five!"
Julia's love of reading has never diminished and her tastes range from Arthur Conan Doyle, the Brontes and Jane Austen, through to Jilly Cooper (her guilty pleasure), Val McDermid and Peter James.
Her favourite read of all time? She doesn't hesitate, it is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, although she acknowledges it is a fine line between this and Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha.
Natalie is reading from The Wrong Cake, by Katie Ffiord, one of 10 brilliant Stories to Make You Smile, a co-commission between the reading agency and Specsavers, as part of World Book Night 2021.
Natalie has a background in arts and culture and has recently moved back to Havering, focusing largely on community art projects, with contracts at Brentwood, Essex and Havering Councils respectively. She has worked on art trails, public art projects, community events, as a workshop artist in schools, colleges and youth centres and has judged various exhibition competitions. She currently spends her time juggling work as a mural artist, freelancing as a project co-ordinator and most importantly being a mum to two young girls.
Natalie's favourite book of all time is Shantaram, she says she felt bereft when it had finished, it had been such an epic story of a read. Natalie normally finds she has 3 books on the go at any one time and picks them up depending on what room she happens to be in.
Serena is reading from Blind Dates, by Dorothy Koomson, one of 10 brilliant Stories to Make You Smile, a co-commission between the reading agency and Specsavers, as part of World Book Night 2021.
Serena has worked in Arts Education for the last 24 years; from the National Theatre to Theatre Royal Stratford East and many others in between. She now works as a Creative Writing and Drama tutor for a number of organisations, including: local schools, Thurrock Adult Community College and The Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Alongside her tutoring work, Serena is a writer of short stories, poetry and children's story books and in 2019 brought a book she co-authored with her five-year-old daughter: 'The Sky is Going to Sleep', to The Havering Literary Festival.
Serena believes passionately that stories can teach us about other worlds, experience and other people's points of view. She told us: :They can make us laugh, cry, empathise and feel that we are not alone."
