Reading has been the central axis of Vicky García Toloza’s career. A lawyer with a postgraduate degree in Pedagogy of Differences, she has dedicated her work to strengthening reading mediation with one key premise: it is only possible to guide and foster reading skills when the mediator first cultivates their own bond with books. With this vision, she designed a mentoring model that, for more than a decade, has impacted teachers, librarians, and educational communities. Her leadership has driven the creation of projects such as the Épico Festival of Children’s and Young Adult Literature, the Círculo Abierto Publishing House, and the Dos Mangos Bookstore, all dedicated to building reading communities.
Her Climate Imagination Mini-Fellowship project is based in Barranquilla, Colombia, and builds on the work of Fundación Círculo Abierto, an independent, nonprofit organization has been designing and implementing educational and cultural projects around literature and reading since 2010. She will create a set of three “Rolling Trees,” moveable shade structures, which will act as community spaces for reflection, action, and connection. These structures will be set up in three locations throughout the city: Librería Dos Mangos in the El Prado neighborhood, the Técnica de Rebolo School in Rebolo, and the Paulino Salgado Batata School in Nueva Colombia. The shade areas will be used to expand access to the street, support the city’s civic culture, and host readings from CSI’s Climate Imagination book.