Zachary Omitowoju | Dawn of the Unread

Dawn of the Unread started out as a reading flashmob where people showed their support for bookshops and libraries by sitting down and reading in the centre of Nottingham. It then became a series of online comics celebrating Nottingham’s literary history. Aware that our reading habits are changing as a result of digital technology, we created Twitter accounts for some of our featured writers and captured the essence of their best known novels in a series of Tweets. We produced ‘how to’ videos on YouTube to encourage people to create their own comics and then followed this up with visual essays called the Nottingham Essay. We morphed into a smartphone app and used gaming theory to entice younger readers into libraries and bookshops. We created a dance record for our Alma Reville issue, a computer game for our Alan Sillitoe issue. And on and on we went with our relentless quest to share our passion for reading through transmedia storytelling.

The project started in 2013 and continues to flourish in 2021. The outbreak of a global pandemic has reiterated the importance of reading for our mental health as we find ourselves locked away. In these difficult times, literature transports us to different places across time, making lockdown more bearable. For some of us, books have become our main friends.

It is this that brings me us onto Zachary Omitowoju and arguably the most important ‘add on’ of Dawn of the Unread. We created 120 placements for students between 2013-15 which was one of the reasons we won the Guardian Teaching Excellence Awards. These placements continue today. I’ve now lost count of how many people have been involved. Zach is the latest student to do a 37 hour placement with us. This is a two-way relationship. Whereas he helps us produce YouTube videos which keep the important conversation about reading going, Zach is given a platform to share his ideas and have a voice. Each new placement brings something different to these conversations and allows our project to develop in ways we could not have imagined as we sat down on the cold slabs of Market Square many moons ago.

This is the second video Zach has created for us. His first was about 10 reasons I love reading but this time he has narrowed his focus to a very important issue: why physical books matter. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to focus on reading as multiple devices vie for our attention. Constant notifications and digital rabbit holes mean that we are losing the ability for deep focus. Reading physical books is no longer simply about the pursuit of knowledge or escapism from our locked down lives. It’s about bringing deep focus and concentration back. As a transmedia project, we are more than aware that we have created many digital distractions for our readers. But our goal has always been to raise awareness of great books and writers, to encourage people to use libraries and bookshops, and to celebrate the physical medium of books for their ability to engage with our imagination. Needless to say our favourite transformation was when we became a book in 2018, published by Spokesman Books. The profits from sales go to literacy projects via Nottingham City of Literature. Show your support for these causes by buying a copy.

Further reading