The Aspen Institute

In John Wood’s new book Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy (Viking; On-sale: February 7, 2013), John tackles Room to Read’s next steps, the challenges of managing expansion while maintaining integrity; of raising money in a collapsing economy; of promoting gender equality through scholarships for girls; and of changing the mission to include not just building libraries but also publishing books for children who literally have no books in their native language and training thousands of teachers and librarians. Thanks to Room to Read, 7.5 million children in Asia and Africa have now had the benefit of books and schools. Although the trajectory of growth has been remarkable, John asserts that he has only scratched the surface in terms of the impact he hopes to ultimately achieve. Room to Read aspires to reach 10 million children by 2015. In support of the new book, John is embarking on a 14-city North American tour that started on February 7th and is followed by a tour in Asia Pacific spring 2013.