RFL at Austin Public Library began in 2021 as a collaborative effort to create community through a shared love of literature.  Lectures and podcasts were recorded based on discussions of classic literature.  The hope at the time was that a fresh look at some of the best loved classics would inspire new conversations.

     This program is structured like a book group, but one skillfully facilitated to maintain the richest possible dialogue among the participants and the source text. The core idea is that works of literature offer precious resources of energy and vision for the creation and sustenance of healthy communities.

     Reading For Life leverages this unique resource to grow community from the inside-out  - to link imaginations to imaginations in an ongoing conversation about the concerns we share and aspirations we harbor. It is educational and entertaining in the richest sense of both terms, a living classroom as wide and deep as our collective spirit can imagine.