How It Works

UN Photo/Logan Abassi: Hurricane Sandy’s heavy rains and high seas flood a village in Haiti (2012).

connect

We connect with one another on Bookclubs, an innovative online discussion platform, to discuss the book and hear from authors, humanitarians, and policymakers.

research

We team up with scholars to conduct research on the potential of fiction to influence policy and promote prosocial behavior.

read

Throughout the year we choose powerful novels centering themes and experiences of climate, conflict, and humanitarian crisis and read them together.

act

After reading about the characters and their lived experiences, we act — together — to create and sustain action at scale on major issues.

read & learn with us

Readers, educators, book clubs, bookshops, libraries & more

Follow @read_for_action on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook and use #readforaction to stay up-to-date about discussions and events.

Select our books as readings for your class or seminar and use the resources for discussion located on each book’s page on this site.
Host a book club meeting or discussion during or after a livestream event.
Make a display in your library or bookshop window, and choose the books as your next book club read or library pick. A printable poster is available for download here.
Most importantly, participate in our Bookclubs discussions to join with our global community of readers, authors, researchers, and humanitarian policymakers. Get deeper insights into the books, learn about their connection to humanitarian crises, and find ways to take action.
Reach out and connect with our research collaborative.

find the books

We believe local bookstores are essential community hubs that foster culture, curiosity, and a love of reading, and we're committed to helping them thrive.

shop local

Borrow physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks for free from your local public library! Libby is a global reading app where you can check-out books right from home.

Read for Action (RFA) is designed for easy incorporation into undergraduate or graduate courses, seminars, and student and faculty reading groups. The initiative’s structure is Read - Connect - Act - Research.

You read the books with your class or group. Read for Action connects you to authors, researchers, policymakers and other readers your group can engage with on our online discussion platform. You choose how to take action in ways that speak to your specific community.

The novels are chosen with a broad audience in mind and faculty across the fields of public policy, politics, environmental humanities, languages and literature and more have participated. We choose contemporary global fiction, widely available internationally in new and used editions, at libraries, and in audiobook formats. Our calendar is built to ensure maximum flexibility to read one or more novels across the academic year, and to enable participation for those on semester systems, quarter systems, and other global academic calendars.

A brief document on using RFA in in your course or reading group is available here.