Frankenreads Q&A: The British Institute of Florence

Welcome to a new series of posts on the K-SAA Blog. Frankenreads is an international celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for Halloween 2018 organized by the Keats-Shelley Association of America.The Communications Team will be presenting short interviews with Frankenreads partners - we want to ask why those involved in the project think that Mary Shelley's masterpiece still resonates today, and share with you some of the ideas and activities they have planned.Don't forget that you can submit your event to Frankenreads, too! Join us in celebrating Mary Shelley's 'hideous progeny' on 31 October 2018. More information can be found here.We begin with a response from Alyson Price from The British Institute of Florence. The Institute will be running two events under the title of 'Reading Monsters'. The first is for young children, and the second involves young people of middle school and high school age reading parts of the novel aloud.Florence has a Shelleyan connection, of course: Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley moved to the city in October 1819. They stayed at the Palazzo Marini on the Via Valfonda until early 1820 (when they moved to Pisa). In November 1819 Mary Shelley gave birth to a son, who she named Percy Florence - he was the only one of the Shelleys' children to survive into adulthood. Mary would return to Florence during her 1842-3 tour of the Continent with her son and his friends.What made you want to participate in Frankenreads, and what do you think is the relevance of Mary Shelley’s iconic novel today?We began the year with an exhibition celebrating the 200 years since the publication of the novel and its subsequent history  ̶  taking it up to the film made by James Whales in 1931. The richness of the novel, its relevance today, and the enjoyment of being part of a collective international experience encouraged us to want to become involved in Frankenreads.The novel is relevant today on so many levels, often depending on the reponses it might invoke from readers  ̶  or, indeed, from those who have never read the novel. Some are impressed by the youth and imagination of its author, others by the way the novel speaks to our concerns about power and control, about medical science and science in general, about human invention and its consequences  ̶   and children may enjoy the tale and the idea of the monster.What are you doing for Frankenreads, who is involved, and what makes your Frankenreads event unique?We are planning two events with two different age groups. The events respond to the environment we work in. I suppose they are unique because we are working in both Italian and English and perhaps because we are attempting to appeal to different age groups.First, ahead of the 31st, on Thursday 25th October, we plan to hold an event for young children. Once a month we have 'Storytime', when we read and create with our younger members. On this occasion we will read from a children's version of Frankenstein and make monster masks for Halloween.Our second event, on 31 October, is directed at middle/high school children. Here we plan to work with local teachers in Italian schools to bring together their students to read aloud passages from the novel.It is always possible that our events will change nearer the time, or that we will add a further event - we like to respond to our community.