Library cuts protest, Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh 5 February 2011

Video by Michael MacLeod, Guardian Edinburgh
guardian.co.uk/edinburgh

The Gruffalo writer Julia Donaldson was among a crowd of authors, illustrators, readers and children protesting at the Scottish Parliament this morning.

The Edinburgh protest was organised four days ago by Carnegie Award winning children's author Theresa Breslin. Around 100 people joined in, with some reading sections from their favourite books.

Breslin said:

"Literature is one of Scotland's jewels. I've sent out emails asking people to support the protest for the past six months. Only on Tuesday afternoon I sent out an email... and suddenly it went viral. I had 768 emails by Friday morning. I could only put the names of the first 100 supporters on our letter today but there are hundreds more.

"This is not a petition, it's a protest. We are advocates. It's a national day. Our friends in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are protesting and I really worry that we are wearing thin the cultural fabric of our country if we don't look after our libraries."

The biggest cheer of the morning's protest came when Duncan Wright, school librarian of the year, read his six-week old son Gregor's favourite book. He said:

"Cat, duck, polar bear, penguin, zebra, rabbit, mouse, hen, fish and cow."

The crowd cheered and clapped at each animal, while Gregor slept in a sling on his dad's chest. Somebody shouted out: "Are you going to read the whole thing? Don't spoil the ending for him."

Another Scottish children's author, Debi Gliori, told of how she discovered books as a prison library cleaner. She also paid tribute to Lerwick Library in Shetland. She said:

"Libraries are the most important things and that's not just because I'm an author and I benefit from PLR. It's because when you write, it's not about selling books. It's about wanting your books to be read and with libraries we get a readership, we get minds into which we can pour our books. That, for a writer, is the most important thing. It's all about connection."

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Library
• cuts
• protest
• edinburgh
• scottish parliament
• julia donaldson
• gruffalo

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When people protest and try to reach banks, say they are anarchist groups. If there are anarchists, dictators in the world they are politicians!