Read for Action: The Humanitarian Book Club began in response to a core question of humanitarian organizations: How can we create durable and sustained engagement while encouraging collective action in ways that are responsible towards affected people? Weaving the power of fiction with the realities of global humanitarian response, the project brings together readers with authors, researchers, activists, and humanitarian policymakers to:

• Create a global community of readers interested in humanitarian crises;

• Host online discussions of the novels where authors, researchers, and policymakers connect the books to specific contemporary challenges and global crises;

• Provide a range of pro-climate and pro-humanitarian actions that readers can take collectively to create action at scale; and

• Bring together researchers who are interested in learning more about the power of fiction and the humanities to influence policy and advocacy.

Read for Action: The Humanitarian Book Club is a partnership between the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — which coordinates global humanitarian response along with its partners — and the University of Virginia Humanitarian Collaborative — which supports innovative research to bridge the academic-practitioner divide on humanitarian issues.

Read for Action is based on the past work of the Humanitarian Collaborative led by Prof. Kirsten Gelsdorf, Prof. Adrienne Ghaly’s study The Uses of Migration and Displacement Fiction for Humanitarian Advocacy, and Ruth Mukwana’s “Stories and Humanitarian Action” podcast.

Contact: readforaction@virginia.edu