Be Yourself: Why National Reading Week?

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The third National Reading Week has started in Ukraine. It unites readers, publishers, writers, booksellers from all over the country and is designed to develop the culture of reading among Ukrainians.

The trend of 2023 for the Week is “To be your own“. What does this slogan mean? How is reading popularized in Ukraine and in the world? The journalist is looking for answers to these questions UP. Culture Anastasia Bolshakova.

What happens during Reading Week and why it is necessary

This year it starts a little earlier than the previous ones – on December 4. This is due to the change in the dates of the Christmas holidays. Saint Nicholas Day will be celebrated in Ukraine for the first time on December 6, i.e. the day after tomorrow, so this is a good opportunity to remind all the Saint’s messengers what exactly should be put under pillows and under Christmas trees for both children and adults.

Initiated the National Reading Week Ukrainian Book Institute. It is somewhat similar to a moderated flash mob – the Institute encourages people to buy books as gifts, spread information about their favorite literary works and share their impressions of what they have read. He also has his own hashtags: #readingweek2023 and #бутисвойым.

One of the posters is dedicated to Mykhailo Khvylovy.

“We want reading to become a daily habit of every Ukrainian, and our Action – it is a good tradition in the run-up to Christmas to unite around reading, share your big and small personal reading ratings, discuss what you have read, support Ukrainian books, especially in such a dark and fragile time for our country, its culture in particular. Let the National Reading Week inspire you, your friends, relatives, loved ones, colleagues to visit the library or bookstore!“, said the director of the Ukrainian Book Institute Oleksandra Koval.

You can join Reading Week both individually and as whole institutions – schools, libraries, museums, theaters, shops or offices. Organize your event programs: group readings and discussions, discussions, meetings with writers, bookcrossing – in short, do everything related to reading.

In Kyiv bookstores, you can also “hang up a book” for libraries – pay there for a book that will be transferred to one of the libraries that suffered as a result of hostilities or occupation. There are more than half a thousand such in Ukraine, including the Kherson Regional Universal Scientific Library named after Honchar, which was hit by a Russian projectile in November of this year.

Everyone who “hangs up” a book for the library will receive an entrance ticket to one of the capital’s new events – the book fair Kyiv Book Weekend.

Official poster for National Reading Week.

This year, the focus of National Reading Week is a figure Mykola Khvylovoi, who celebrates his 130th birthday in December. The face of the writer of the X generation of the Shot Revival can be seen on the posters of the action, and the motto is dedicated to him – “Be yourself”. It should remind about “the importance of communication between generations, between readers and writers, between all Ukrainians, especially during the war”.

During the week, a number of literary and artistic events will also take place throughout Ukraine, joined by: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Khmelnytskyi, Odesa, Lutsk, as well as the village of Bohdanivka in the Kyiv region. The full program can be found here.

A brief history of the creation of the reading week in Ukraine

Although we celebrate World Book Day on April 23 and a number of professional holidays – Publisher’s Day, Writer’s Day, Librarian’s Day and All-Ukrainian Library Day – until a certain time there was no initiative in Ukraine that would combine all these together and at the same time popularize reading.

The Ukrainian Book Institute organized the Reading Week for the first time at the end of 2021. Then, from December 13 to 19, the first association of readers, writers, librarians, publishers and booksellers took place under the slogan “Find your book!”

National Reading Week 2021 poster.

It just so happened that at the same time, the “eSupport” program began – Ukrainians began to be paid the so-called “covid thousand” for having been vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus. Certificates could be spent on visits to the theater or cinema, as well as to buy books. That December, neither online nor real bookstores could barely cope with the load of customers, and publishers did not have time to print books. During the week, the shelves of bookstores were emptied for a long time.

“No matter what anyone says, this is a good incentive for raising the level of reading in Ukraine. I hope that this dynamic will be maintained after this”– wrote the then Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko.

At the same time, a study of reading culture in Ukraine was conducted by Gradus Research. It showed that 59% of surveyed Ukrainians read against 41% of “non-readers”. Among people who are not fans of books, the main reason for not reading was lack of time.

“Our research has identified sustainable reading groups that can definitely be ambassadors of this skill to the rest of the population. It seems extremely difficult to popularize reading among representatives of young age groups, because they read the least, this habit is almost not formed in them and is perceived more as a duty than a pleasure“, — said the head of Gradus Research at the time Evgenia Blyznyuk.

Despite the full-scale war, the new tradition was continued in 2022. One of the most popular hashtags at that time became #KnygaNaVoihnya.

How reading is popularized in the world

Although events promoting reading are new to Ukrainians, many countries have been celebrating holidays dedicated to books for many years.

In Great Britain, reading week is held twice – in May and in November. Although, they note that in reality there are no exact dates and you can independently decide which of the weeks to choose. They are focused on a children’s audience in order to accustom children to the culture of reading.

In the United States, the Children’s Reading Week initiative was started in 1919. Since then, more than 2,000 schools, libraries and bookstores in all 50 states have participated.

In Canada, Children’s Reading Week falls at the end of April. At this time, writers, illustrators and storytellers travel around the country and communicate with their readers: they talk about the creation of books, hold workshops, public readings and presentations. This allows children from remote regions, or disinterested youth, to immerse themselves in the world of book creation and discover reading for pleasure.

Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands also have similar traditions.

Read also: “Our readers have already reread all the books”: how the restored village library lives 15 km from the Russian border

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