We have all read a book at some time, something apparently very simple, isn't it? For the inhabitants of the villages of Alto Aragón, access to books and cultural resources has become an odyssey. The scarcity of libraries prevents a large number of citizens, many of them elderly and children, from being able to do something as basic as reading a book. Buying books is not always an option due to the current economic and digital rift that affects the most vulnerable groups. This is where Mallata Educativa comes in, a project that will make available to these villages in the Aragonese Pyrenees a system of itinerant book lending, along with cultural animation activities. It is estimated that at least ten villages will participate in this project.
The TARRAINA project worked with rural communities and institutions to learn about the problems affecting them, design projects, test their effectiveness on a small scale and then apply them in the different territories. This is how Libros Trashumantes (Transhumant Books) was born
The Mallata Educativa Association, together with the Camaleo Association, have organised a cultural transhumance project to reach the most isolated places in Aragon, with fewer educational and cultural resources. There, they will offer both trainings for adults and activities for children and young people.
Despite being financially supported by the EDP Foundation, the project still needs help. This is where our publishing house comes in. Libros de las Malas Compañías (Bad Companies Books) will collaborate in this project with some of our books, such as the Cuentos Noruegos (Norwegian Tales), La Novia del Mar (The Bride of the Sea) or the books of our Serie Negra (Black Series). We have always been known for being an uncomfortable publisher, that goes to places where others do not dare, so who would we be if we did not participate in a project as important as this one? We hope that all the books received in the villages of Aragon will help their citizens to love books, feel less isolated and get to know new worlds through their reading.
This project is for those who dream of creating a different world, where books play a key role in the development and future of citizens. If you are one of these people, you can collaborate by donating books that you have at home to travel around the Pyrenees or by making a financial donation for the purchase of books and the creation of a website for the inhabitants of the villages of Alto Aragon to reserve their books. In addition, if you are a citizen of these villages, you can become a volunteer.
The situation in which these villages of Alto Aragón find themselves makes us think about the enormous facilities that exist in large urban centres and how something that we consider daily can become a headache for others. Despite this, this project wishes to transmit the importance of culture and, above all, the value of books. That is why, whenever we hold a book in our hands, we should always give it the importance and respect it deserves, because without them we would never have travelled to those wonderful worlds when we were children, we would never have laughed or cried in our adult life, nor would we have been transported to that hidden place where our most precious memories are to be found.
María Brea
