The Origins
and
Our Spirit
This is a tale of friends, imagination, fantasy, and a kind old librarian.
Herein lies the incredible story of how a few fantasy books, the kindling of childhood imagination, and a caring librarian created a lasting friendship and love of all things magical.
Nancy Banks
Our Beginning
The Readers of the Round Table found its origins in the library of Riffenburgh Elementary School in Fort Collins, Colorado in the early 1990's. This library was under the careful watch of an incredible librarian named Nancy Banks, who poured her energy and life into care for both the volumes lining the shelves as well as the minds and hearts of the young students she encountered. Seeing a love of fantasy literature growing in a few of these young charges, she invited these friends to join her for a weekly Friday mid-day book club in the library of the elementary school. Over bag lunches at a squat round table in this small library, Nancy led a book club to explore the Fantasy literature greats like J.R.R. Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, C.S. Lewis and more. Deciphering dwarven ruins, creating magical lands, discussing wizard spells and fantastic monsters, all while fostering a love of reading and creativity, instilled a deep love for exploring the faraway lands of literature and created an even deeper unbreakable bond of friendship. At that small table, in that small library, was born The Readers of the Round Table.
These children have since grown. Their lives have gone down many different paths, joys and challenges, but that friendship remains. And though Nancy Banks has long since passed through the Gray Havens and into the West, her spirit remains alive in the deep bond of friendship that exists between these friends and their shared love of creativity and imagination. The Readers of the Round Table creative writing collaborative was established in Nancy's honor to continue in the spirit of imaginative creation. May the magic continue to thrive.
Our Spirit
The Readers of the Round Table serves to foster a love of literature and life, of fantasy and creative storytelling. We hope to promote reading, creativity and imagination in people of all ages. Come join us on the journey!