‘Creating Room To Read’ - Win a Copy!

Enter the competition for your chance to win a copy of John Wood's book.

Australian philanthropist and former Microsoft executive, John Wood says in just ten years his organisation Room to Read has gone from a disorganised rag-tag band of volunteers to a global movement involving millions of people.

Just how he did it is revealed in a new book about to be published internationally by Penguin and Pro Bono Australia readers have the chance to win one of the first available copies.

The successes and challenges of Wood’s once small organisation, that delivers libraries and books to children in developing countries, are outlined in the new book called Creating a Room to Read.

After quitting a lucrative executive career at Microsoft in 1999 Wood says he set himself a bold and ambitious goal to make sure that children all over the world were literate in their native language.

The book looks at the story behind Wood’s accomplishments – how he created the organisation, how he raises money to fund it, how he determines where to establish the libraries and how he copes with the inevitable challenges.

One of the biggest challenges Wood says in his book was working on how to manage the largest gift in the organisation’s history ($5million) only to have ‘largest pledge in our history withdrawn’ during the Global Financial Crisis.

The organisation has since gone on to achieve many successes.

• More than 15,000 libraries have opened in ten countries in Asia and Africa, offering children the possibilities of 12 million books.
• More than 8 million books have been published in over 25 native languages through the creativity and vision of local authors and illustrators.
• More than 1,600 schools have been built, with the participation and approval of local communities whose children were starving for education.
• More than 20,000 girls have been supported to complete secondary school and develop the skills to negotiate key life decisions.

Wood has been a three-time speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and a five-time winner of Fast Company Magazine’s Social Capitalist Award. He has been honoured by Time Magazine’s “Asian Heroes” Award, selected as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum and is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

He was selected by Barron’s as one of the “25 Best Givers” in 2009 and 2010, ranking 11th and 9th on the list, respectively.

For your chance to win a copy of the book plus a $100 David Jones Voucher click here.