MORE BOOKS, BETTER FUTURE.

Mexico City fills the streets with words, instead of blood. Commas, accents and suspension points are seen all over in the plaza´s of Mexico City, thanks to the Secretary of Education, Mario Delgado Carrillo, and his determination to promote reading among the population.

Citizens “take” the streets and plaza´s on Sundays to challenge the myth that the city has been taken by violence and drug trafficking. They listen to international renowned authors and various celebrities read poems, novels and tales.

This initiative was created by documentalist Natalia Gil, who has been joined by Ángeles Mastretta, Eliseo Alberto, Homero Aridjis and Alberto Ruy-Sánchez, as well as musicians, actors and journalists that now are reading ambassadors in Mexico City.

The young audience was surprised to listen the words of Grammy winner, Julieta Venegas, when they are used to hear her sing. Actress Cecilia Suárez cried when she read fragments of author Eliseo Alberto. Many in the audience heard Genoveva Casanova´s sweet voice for the first time, when she recited Jaime Sabines poetry. Sports commentator, Alberto Lati, who screams “goal” in the TV screen, moved the audience to tears when he read a letter to someone that had just passed away. Movie actress Ximena González-Rubio, seduced all the audience reading a tale with her sexy voice, and when she was in the climax of the story, she closed the book and asked people to buy it. These events in public parks have proved that against the conventional wisdom Mexicans do enjoy reading.