Flipping new pages

Significant figures from across Marlborough shared their experiences and reasons behind their love of reading as part of Youth Week’s celebrations.

Te Kahu o Waipuna/Marlbororugh Library and Art Gallery hosted a ‘Leaders as Readers’, with Duncan MacKenzie speaking with Tasman Mako head coach Gray Cornelius, Wairau Hospital Emergency Department Consultant Dr Rachel Thomas and Marlborough District Councillor and teacher Jonathan Rosene.

Each of the guests spoke on their earliest reading memories and their ongoing passions for books whether for personal development or pure enjoyment, but also on how they found their way to reading.

“Reading helps me disconnect, give myself time to chill out and get lost for a little while”, says Gray, a regular at the Library according to Duncan.

“My line of work has me reading a lot from high-performance coaches, athletes and motivational books from inspiring people, but when I find the time I like to get lost in historical fiction that’s grounded with real characters I can picture happening.

“It’s so easy to get lost in our phones and just scroll forever, but I know I’ll actively feel better picking up a book – there’s just a deeper connection for me and it’s something I share with all of our players.”

“My experiences are strikingly similar to Gray, where I split my time reading between learning and escaping daily life,” adds Rachel.

“I was a horrible reader for years and actively avoided it through school until a librarian noticed and basically taught me to read, and now I’ll carry my Kindle with me and when we have lunch or some rare downtime, I’ll get through a few pages.

“Once I found books that interested me, I wouldn’t even put them down for anything to the point my mum would have to lock them away at mealtimes.

“My personal hero is Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and I found my first heroes in strong female lead characters but now I’m reading more classics like Fahrenheit 451 and The Handmaid’s Tale, as well as Sarah Maas’s work.”

Councillor Jonathan Rosene says that while reading found him later in life, the feeling of completing a book and the search for another has him hooked for life.
“My first reading memory was finishing ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ just ahead of going to Army basic training and getting the sense of accomplishment for not just finishing it but connecting with the language,” he says.

“Libraries are a place to learn, to escape, to access new knowledge and to challenge what you think you know, and librarians should be celebrated for that.”