In Conversation: Literacy Advocate and Influencer Oliver James

Last month, personal trainer, literacy activist, and influencer Oliver James published Unread: A Memoir of Learning (and Loving) to Read on TikTok (Union Square & Co).

In 2021, James surprised his followers on TikTok when he announced, “What’s up? I can’t read.”

After sharing a secret he had held for his whole adult life, James began to document his journey to learn to read as an adult, garnering legions of followers. Though the journey has not always been easy, which James shares in his reels, his dedication to learning and a goal to read 100 books in a year has inspired tens of thousands of people.

Growing up, James struggled in school due to OCD, ADHD, anxiety, and PTSD. He joked that the teachers said, “you got too many letters, now we're gonna give you numbers.” He soon found a way to get by without having to learn to read, but, throughout his life that created a layer of separation between him and others.

In Unread, James provides a unique perspective on how some children slip through the educational cracks, the day-to-day struggle on navigating illiteracy as an adult, and the hopeful path that he is on today.  

Words & Money sat down with Oliver James for an interview to discuss his literacy journey, writing the book, and what he hopes readers, listeners, or other people going through a similar journey (an estimated 45 million Americans can’t read above a 5th grade level) will take away from it.

In Unread, you write that one of the things that prompted you to learn to read in your 30s was a book your girlfriend gave you, 365 Quotes to Live Your Life. Can you talk about how this gift encouraged you to share this secret and begin this journey at 32?  

I didn’t understand the gift at first, and thought maybe she was making fun of me. She said, ‘I know you like inspirational stuff and motivational speaking. You watch it all day on YouTube, so I bought you a quote book.’ Which I didn't understand, because I didn't read.

Then she started reading them to me. I didn't understand that either. I thought, why are you reading to me? To her it was normal, but to me, I was standoffish a little bit about reading or literature or literacy or any of that.

Once she saw that [behavior], she sort of got it. She was teaching me that these quotes were like these videos I was watching. I could get the same information in one sentence or one page, so I don't have to worry about listening to a 2-hour video or I could get [that information] on a plane or when I was alone. I’m explaining it to you now because I understand it now, but at the time, I didn’t really understand [how a book could do that].

I think when you grow up reading, one might take for granted how books or even just being able to read factors into our lives. We not only read books, newspapers, magazines, we read food labels, street signs, texts from friends, and on and on. If books and reading aren’t a part of your life, it must have felt very foreign. How did it feel sharing this secret on TikTok, a secret that even some of the people closest to you didn’t know?

Well, honestly, I didn't know. There were many things about myself that I didn't share to the world. I think we all do that and, in some way, it was really hard, because I didn't know where I would position myself. And I still don't. It feels sometimes a little awkward, because I feel center stage to a problem or something, but it’s just my normal life.

What was the response from the people closest to you? I know you had friends reading and writing texts for you. Did most of the people close to you know that you didn't read?

I think we tend to know more than we give ourselves credit for. When you're growing up, you know who has what, and where's what, and how is what. It’s hard, because then, when you call it out, then you feel like you become kind of an outsider. It's like, why would you talk about the things we all know?

And I'm like, if we all know it, why don't we talk about it? So these are the things that you realize when people are like, okay, you're gonna try to break a generational curse. To the world, everybody else is looking at us like, wow, you made a big change to the world. But to your family, you can't expect them to want to meet you where you're at, you know, and be all open and talk about stuff they may not want to talk about, and they may never want to.

But I'm gonna do it differently. I'm gonna speak in my family, and we're gonna know things, and we're gonna talk about things, and we're gonna go to therapy, and we're gonna work on stuff, and that's what I'm gonna pursue for the future of my generation.

Thank you for sharing your life and what you're going through, not only on TikTok, but in the book. I think that's so important not only for kids who are coming up, but also other adults who might be going through some of the same experiences or same challenges. What do you hope people take away from Unread?

[Now that I am learning to read], I have options, so I'm better at being alone. I'm better being this person because I have options. I understood that if you don't have options, boy, you're gonna have a hard life.

So I want people to hear that and say, if I can read, I have options. I can do things now without the help of others. So, I have options, and life is a little bit better for me.

And I want to give others that option. As a kid, you don't have that option, but there's a place in life as an adult where you do, and if you don't learn how to read, you feel like a big kid. You feel really, really out of place and it really hurts.

For people who aren’t there yet, I hope I reach you. I hope you heard this. We can only reach so many, but I hope I reach you.