Widening the Worldview with Global Literature Like many online communities,
our Instagram accounts: she
regions, seeking out original
the one that lives on Instagram
had a monthly challenge of
sources, translations, and
– often called “bookstagram”
reading classic literature over
by its members – is a
the span of a year under the
passionate group of readers
hashtag 2020Classics, and I
from all over the globe.
had various themed monthly
Thousands of people share
projects that focused on a
book reviews, literary musings,
regional literature, like
reflections on older materials,
JanuaryinJapan, or a genre,
and speculations on upcoming
like ScienceSeptember.
releases. This vibrancy thrives on the bookstagram hashtag as
We both expressed a desire to
a categorization tool, finding
read more global literature,
other readers’ posts and
and from this idea, our joint
observations, and continuing
project Read The World 21
the dialogue.
took shape. We chose a series
Using this hashtag concept, and the innate desire to share and discuss with other readers —what so many book clubs are built on!—my friend and fellow bookstagrammer and I hatched an idea in early 2020. Rachael of @anovelfamily and I have both run independent reading groups and projects through
24
By Lauren Weinhold @end.notes
of monthly prompts over 21 months—starting in April 2020 through the end of 2021—that focused on specific geographic regions of the world, challenging ourselves as well as any readers who wanted to join us, to read one or more books from this region each month. Additionally, we wanted to promote writers from the
