Empowering the audience through reading
Books serve as powerful tools for empowerment, education, they also foster creativity and innovation. Reading not only enhances language skills but also enriches people's ability to express themselves, gain confidence, and develop a curiosity about the joy of learning and the world in general.
Through this initiative, the European Union seeks to inspire younger generations to establish a relationship with the world of books. This is achieved through meeting authors, translators and other professionals of the book sector and inviting them to share their own experiences.
The Day of European Authors offers young people an opportunity to engage with ongoing social and personal challenges. It serves as a platform for promoting and supporting ongoing programmes and initiatives in European countries to encourage a culture of reading.
The first edition took place on 27 March 2023 featuring over 1000 reading events in schools and a conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. Building on this success, the second Day of European Authors, held on 25 March 2024, saw the number of reading events double, expanding to all 40 countries participating in the Creative Europe programme. A conference on reading promotion took place in Leuven and brought together the book and education sectors.
Check out the 2024 Day of European Authors
Here is a short video clip about the Day of European Authors conference:
Event locations of the 2024 Day of Authors
Previous editions
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2024 Day of European Authors
The second edition of the Day of European Authors took place on 25 March 2024 in all 40 Creative Europe countries. Almost 2 000 events took place in celebration of the day.
The event consisted of the following activities:
Reading events in school, libraries and bookstores
We invited schools, bookshops, libraries and other partners of reading promotion in all Creative Europe countries to organize events focusing on European authors.
The events were an opportunity to invite a writer, a translator or a publisher to talk about their job. The aim of these meet ups was to enhance the participants' experience, foster a love of books and literature, as well as raise awareness about the diversity of professions within the book and publishing sector.
Tour of European authors
The European Commission and the European Writers' Council organised a tour featuring 120 European authors who met with young readers in all 40 Creative Europe countries. Many of them travelled across borders to meet an audience from another country. Thus, the authors were able to share their work, engage in readings, and facilitate discussions on their works or other contemporary authors. This interactive initiative allowed young readers to explore and discover the richness of European literature.
A conference on reading promotion
The European Commission organised a conference on reading promotion, that took place on 25 and 26 March 2024 in Leuven, Belgium.
The conference gathered representatives from the ministries of culture and education from all 40 Creative Europe countries, along with key figures from the book and education sector, and organisations committed to promoting reading.
The theme of this conference - European dimension of reading promotion has been chosen to emphasize the importance of engaging young people in the development and implementation of reading promotion initiatives.
Missed the conference? Watch the recordings of the panels from the event.
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2023 - The first Day of European Authors
During the first edition of the Day of European Authors, which took place on 27 March 2023, over 1000 schools participated, including those featured in the Tour of European Authors.
Additionally, a conference held in Sofia brought together representatives from ministries of education and culture, as well as professionals from the book and reading promotion sectors. To learn more about the first edition and get inspired from the experience of schools participating last year, check this summary and the factsheet about the activities in 2023.