The pleasure of reading
No entertainment is as cheap as reading, nor any pleasure as lasting.
Mary Montagu, writer (1689–1762)
Let your imagination fly, get to know and love your own culture, become interested in other cultures and appreciate them...
Nicaragua, a country with a rich and powerful popular imagination.
Stories, legends, fables, myths, fantastic beings, mysterious facts,
and bold characters or heroes permeate popular culture.
Nicaraguan reality and everyday life is vital and colourful.
Nature is imposing, lush and explosive. It is often a guardian of spells.
That's a lot of opportunities to listen to stories and have reading experiences!
All together... a remarkable source of inspiration to create and express yourself.
The Som Vínculos Estelí Association supports projects of the Fundación Vínculos Estelí aiming to promote reading in children and families from Nicaragua. We find means to send them books and launch projects to exchange stories, fables, stories and other narratives.
It also spreads among children, families and general public from Catalunya illustrated books with stories, fables, poems, songs... from Nicaraguan tradition or reality. It is a way to get to know and appreciate that culture.
TRAVELLING STORIES
We send tales from Nicaragua to children and families from Catalunya and tales from Catalunya to children and families in Nicaragua.
We also support and promote projects to create and exchange stories.
They are different means to promote love for other cultures through mutual exchange and knowledge.
Reading exchange
At the fairs we take part in Catalunya we sell illustrated books with Nicaraguan stories and poems.
In turn, we send illustrated books from Catalunya to the Educational Resource Centre of the Fundación Vínculos Estelí .
Books by, and with, Nicaragua
We invite primary and secondary schools, organizations, universities, recreational centres, other groups, individuals or private groups to invent and illustrate a story to be read, looked at, heard, narrated, shared...
For the time being, trainee students, individuals, teachers from Estelí (Nicaragua), schools in Palacagüina (Nicaragua) and schools in Arbúcies (Catalunya) have participated.
The stories are exchanged between Nicaragua and Catalunya.
A tale written and illustrated by primary school children from Catalunya.
Also enjoyed by primary school children in Nicaragua.
DO YOU WANT TO SEE ALL THE STORIES WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED IN THIS PROJECT?
WE PUBLISH ILLUSTRATED BOOKS
This project, in cooperation with the Fundación Vínculos Estelí , aims to publish quality illustrated books and send them to children and young people from Nicaragua and their families. They must be suggestive, interesting, motivating, so that they provide a pleasure relationship with reading and books that involve an interest in continuing to enjoy reading in a convinced, enthusiastic and sustained way.
If most of the books published are inspired by facts, stories, legends, situations, places, characters, daily life, literary or artistic productions from or created in Nicaragua, not only will cultural identification be easier, contributing to the knowledge and assessment of culture and identity itself, but also will give visibility to Nicaraguan culture elsewhere on the planet.
