News
On 5-6 June, Sofia is hosting this year's EURead General Meeting, which will be held outside Brussels for the first time this year. Under the theme 'Literacy across Europe: Reading is the Key', the meeting will bring together leading experts from 20 countries specialising in reading promotion. The Book Institute is represented by Gabriela Dul, coordinator of our bookstart projects within the “Small Book - Great Man” campaign.
Speakers at this year's EURead conference feature EURead board members including Dr Jörg F. Maas, Executive Director of the Reading Foundation (Germany), Diana Gerald, CEO of the Book Trust (England, Wales, Northern Ireland), Gerlien van Dalen, Executive Director of the Reading Foundation (Netherlands).
During the two-day conference, participants will share experiences and present projects and initiatives to promote reading at national and global levels.
“The latest studies from OECD and research institutes have documented clearly that reading competencies have never been as bad as nowadays. More than 70 million Europeans lack these basic skills and have therefore no access to education, training, and the labour market. It is time to remind political leaders across Europe that there is no economic and intellectual future without literacy and reading promotion. The Annual General Meeting of EURead this year in Sofia will be another milestone to call for more political commitment, for more financial support and better programmes for literacy and education,” said Dr. Jörg F. Maas, Chair of EURead.
The conference was opened by Boyko Blagoev, Head of the the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria, Katarina Barley, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and Miroslav Borshosh, Deputy Mayor for “Culture, Education, Sports, and Youth Activities” of Sofia Municipality. The event takes place at the European Union Information Centre and the American Centre in Sofia.
EURead was founded in 2000. The association now consists of 41 organisations from 21 European countries, for whom reading is a prerequisite for full participation in today's media-dominated and culturally diverse society.
EURead aims to share knowledge, experience, and ideas and to jointly develop new strategies for the promotion of reading. Meetings of the association take place on a regular basis. Its activities include systematic lobbying for the promotion of reading among politicians as well as in the business world. The aim of EURead is to raise awareness of the importance of the promotion of reading at national and EU level.
The Book Institute has been a EURead member since 2018. At the EURead conference, its flagship project, the “Small Book – Great Man” campaign, is being presented.