This round table brings together practitioners (editors/publishers) and scholars to discuss what it means to bring texts and books across borders—geographical, political, cultural, and more. What factors—linguistic, institutional, financial, and other—are important in these crossings? What is gained and what is lost in transition? How do transplanted texts help to remember (or forget)? How to make such transfer successful? What are the effects of digital media? What has changed within our living memory? What is the situation today? [Information from the organizers.]

Celebrating U.S. Banned Books Week and the recent publication of George Orwell and Communist Poland (2025), the talk explored the complex Polish reception of Orwell, the theme of Banned Books Week 2025. In doing so, the talk also reflected on the value of the book and on how access to censored literature and ideas in Soviet-occupied Poland empowered both individuals and collectivities.

LIFE has been presented at the Experimental Design Workshop run by Columbia University and New York University. The event gives social scientists the opportunity to workshop the design of an experiment they usually have not yet fielded. Graduate students and faculty present their designs and receive specific, actionable feedback from other workshop participants.

LIFE was presented at the annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP). The conference offered an opportunity to connect with other scholars, gather recommendations for empowering texts for 16–26-year-olds, and reflect on the social impact of reading, especially during the panels “Therapeutic Uses of the Book” and “Digital Bibliotherapy Roundtable”, the latter of which fostered discussion on reading for wellbeing with e-books, audiobooks, and virtual communities.

Some of the methodological and conceptual questions related the project’s design were presented at this year’s IGEL conference. The event provided a valuable opportunity to share emerging ideas, gather feedback and engage in productive discussions. It was also inspiring to learn about the work of colleagues, reconnect with familiar faces and form new connections.

This year’s poster symposium reflected the challenges that many U.S. universities are currently facing. Nevertheless, it still proved to be an excellent opportunity to learn about the diverse research happening across the university and to see colleagues and meet new ones. LIFE was represented by the poster titled “Understanding the Social Impact of Literature: Empowerment”.

The summit brought together 800 government officials, researchers and industry leaders from across the globe to discuss some of the most pressing topics of our day, such as health, quantum information science and technology, AI, climate change innovation, space diplomacy and polar diplomacy, as well as opportunities for international partnerships.

Paper “An Empirical Study of Narrative Impact on Individual Empowerment” was presented at the 40th Annual International Conference on Narrative.

Paper “Empowering Readers through Literature” presented LIFE and the progress on its design at the conference that gathered 300 researchers, students and practitioners who study teaching and learning.

Paper “Exploring Reading for Empowerment” presented LIFE and its design to members of the International Society for Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL). The society gathers empirical reading and media reception scholars and experts in psychology, communication science, literature and media, among others.

This poster symposium showcases Columbia University’s specialised and diverse postdoctoral research. The poster “Studying Reading for Empowerment” presented one of just two Marie Skłodowska-Curie projects exhibited at the symposium, both in the under-represented humanities.

LIFE has met with considerable interest when its initial design was presented at Columbia University’s Data Science Day.