Worlds of wrestling and reading collide at library

You may have heard of chess boxing, in which fighters alternate between duking it out in the ring and carefully seeking checkmate on the board. Now Bradford Libraries is bringing literature into the arena, combining wrestling with reading.

Professional wrestlers will take to the ring at Keighley Library later for a free family event that will see fighters act out well-known stories, from Jack and the Beanstalk to Theseus and the Minotaur.

The Read-a-Slam event is part of the National Year of Reading programme at Bradford Libraries.

Gareth Thompson, CEO and founder of Kingdom Wrestling, says it is an opportunity to engage new readers in a different way.

"It just brings their imagination to life in a way that you just could not do just from reading alone."

Thompson says wrestling and reading are not as different as they may seem.

"If you look at it as a sport and as a violent fight, that is how you engage adults around professional wrestling," he says.

"If you want to engage children, we look at it as storytelling - the good guy, the bad guy, the fight between good and evil, the funny stuff that we can script and play around with.

"It is just a way to get them to really feel the story, for them to then want to go away and read the book after and really get into it.

"It will help their imagination to be able to visualise how small Jack was versus how big this giant can be and what would have happened if the giant got a hold of him."

Andrea Hardaker, digital development officer at Bradford Libraries, says she wants to showcase libraries as creative fun spaces.

"We want people to know that libraries are not these boring stuffy buildings, that we have lots of fun events on for all ages, from birth right through to your old age, we will have something for you," she says.

The project aims to attract new audiences by combining sport, performance and literacy.

"We are keeping up with the times and particularly in Bradford, we go out of our way to put on events that will interest people and they tend to be free," says Hardaker.

Thompson adds: "What I want to see at the end of tomorrow, is not just a packed house full of loads of young people enjoying the show, but I want to see kids and their parents engaging with stories."

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