Happy International Literacy Day!

To me, the New York Public Library is a temple. Whenever I visit NYC, I pay my respects to this magnificent building. Most of the books live across 5th Avenue or in the neighborhood branches, but I come to marvel at what people built to honor the act of reading.

Today is International Literacy Day. This year's theme is "Promoting Literacy in the Digital Era."

As readers and writers, we know the statistics about the decline in reading words on a page. From our own experience, we know the difference between entering into a relationship with the text and scrolling. I take it personally whenever I open my manuscript and AI cheerfully offers to summarize all the words I worked so hard to get right. The dangers to my self-expression are nothing compared to what humans will lose if we keep neglecting literacy. 

The ceiling on the third floor of the library is covered in murals that depict a history of reading. At the top, we see Prometheus about to give fire to humans. We know from the myths that he will be punished severely for wanting us to have light. 

The other murals depict the history of writing--words carved in stone tablets, copied by hand, set in Gutenberg's press, and eventually the mass production we have today. 

All those advancements culminate in this image--two ordinary people sharing a book. 

Let's celebrate that this still happens! Let's dedicate ourselves to making sure the temple to literacy doesn't become a museum to what humans once did before machines took over. 

Let's join ILD2025 in "promoting literacy as a common good and a human right--and as a lever for empowerment and transformation to build more inclusive, just and sustainable societies."

JANE KELLEY is a writer, a reader, and a believer in the power of the written word.