PRU PORETTA

Biography: Pru Porretta has a proven track record of making things happen to promote and stimulate interest in and around the city. She has created and run community festivals and art events and has strong links with business and education. She is an excellent communicator at all levels whose warmth, commitment and dedication inspires everyone she works with. In addition to her significant knowledge of Coventry’s history and current standing she has a unique perspective and wealth of anecdotes to draw upon in her role as Coventry’s Lady Godiva.

Imagination Reading Cafes was formed by Pru Porretta and Colin Scott in the spring of 2002 following the award of a grant from the Reading Families Scheme set up by the campaign for reading. The Reading Families Scheme intention was to create a network of children and families who would form family reading groups and the fund would support these initiatives especially in areas where reading and literacy were problems.

Title: "Kath O Kahini" - Story telling across cultures

Summary: The Imagination Café Storytellers have visited primary schools primarily in deprived urban areas, and have enthralled children, teachers and support staff alike with the amazing range of stories linking the history and myths of Coventry with the tales and legends of the Indian sub- continent. This project entitled “Kath O Kahini” – “stories and more stories” has reached over 1,000 children in schools in some of Coventry most deprived communities and in some of the areas with the highest concentration of children from minority ethnic communities and where many children from refugee and asylum seeker communities also attend school. Teachers have commented on how the stories told by Pru and Kusumika and the inter-action between the children and the
storytellers has made a great difference to their reading and schooling.