It didn’t take Rania Zuri long to become royalty in the world of books, libraries and authors.
Last week, the 2023 graduate of Morgantown High School was presented with an official designation to prove it.
Rania, whose LiTEArary Society puts books in the hands of underserved youngsters across Appalachia and the world, was recognized with the Diana Award – founded in memory of the late Princess of Wales by her sons, Prince Harry and Prince William.
A total of 189 such changemakers from 31 countries were recognized Friday during a ceremony in London.
“Rania is a passionate advocate for ending book deserts – regions where millions of disadvantaged children lack access to books,” the siblings said in a release Friday.
“Through her nonprofit organization, The LiTEArary Society, Rania has donated over $192,000 worth of brand-new books to more than 18,000 preschool children globally,” their statement continued.
“She has personally traveled across the United States, holding engaging read-aloud events and distributing books to children in need,” the brothers noted further.
Rania, who is bound for Yale this fall, garnered national attention for her bookish altruism.
She was profiled in Forbes, appeared on the Today show and gave a TED talk, as she presented the mission.
Last summer, she traveled all 55 counties in West Virginia to distribute books while meeting with each county director of Head Start, the federally funded social enrichment program launched in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson, as part of his War on Poverty initiative.
Her organization’s page-turning global reach now includes an orphanage in Jerusalem and several locales across rural India.
She also became an author, launching a book series for young readers introducing West Virginia’s music, history and geography to the world.
It all started with a love of reading. The classics, specifically.
Members of the society – it grew to 200 members during her MHS years – would gather before and after school to sip tea (where the wordplay in the organization’s name comes in) while digging into the classics.
Voltaire and Dostoevsky.
Jane Austin and Guy de Maupassant.
All the heavy, English major hitters, Rania said, who show that a narrative and character’s journey through it can be just as relevant in the 21st century, as it was in the 18th or 19th.
“The references and some syntax might change,” as she has said, “but the truths are universal.”
And turning those pages, she said, advances a person across the full academic discipline, she said – no matter the subject.
“If you can read, you can learn,” she said.
“Reading inspires critical thinking. You learn about people. You learn about the world.”
The LiTEArary Society, she said, isn’t done – even though her time at MHS is.
She plans on starting a chapter at Yale. Her fellow society grads will do the same at Stanford, the University of North Carolina and other respective schools as they go forth this fall.
“We have a tagline,” she said. “ ‘Inspiring Future Bibliophiles, One Book at a Time.’”
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