Call for proposals for the organisation of a European reading promotion initiative: the Day of European Authors

Following the successful first two editions of the Day of European Authors initiative in 2023 and 2024, the commission is launching a call for proposals to select one project by a consortium of organisations for the development and organisation of the future  editions of the Day of European Authors, in 2025, 2026 and 2027.  

The call will select only one consortium. The call is addressed to organisations from the book and reading promotion sectors.

Objectives of the initiative

The Day of European Authors initiative aims to achieve the following:

Promote the diversity of European literature, encouraging reading and nurturing the love of reading among young generations in Creative Europe participating countries.

Foster the collaboration between the education sector (in particular primary and secondary schools and teachers), the book sector (authors, translators, publishers, librarians and booksellers), and the reading promotion organisations at local, national and European levels. 

Develop and implement a concrete mechanism to facilitate and financially support meetings and exchanges between authors and young people and/or parents in schools, libraries, bookshops and other venues.

What prospective applicants should focus on

proposals should propose a concept combining a one-day celebration and a year-long mechanism to address all the three following priorities:

Priority 1

A Europe-wide celebration event to promote the diversity of European literature and reading including a strong communication campaign across Creative Europe countries to schools, libraries, bookshops, and other cultural venues to encourage them to organise reading activities on a voluntary basis. 

Priority 2 

A European “author in school” pilot mechanism to facilitate and co-finance meetings and exchanges between European authors (or translators), young people and/or families during the school year. The mechanism can include authors visiting schools but also libraries, bookstores or other publicly accessible places, where not only classes but also families can attend those events.

Priority 3

Capacity building – the project should serve as platform for exchange of good practice and mutual learning on the promotion of reading and European literature at European level. It should reinforce networking between reading promotion organisations in Europe but also help and stimulate the collaboration between the book, education and reading promotion sectors and across Creative Europe countries. 

Please read carefully all provisions before the preparation of your application.

For help related to this call, please contact the Creative Europe Desks in your country.