On 27 March 2023, the Commission launches the first edition of the Day of European Authors, a new initiative led by the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel.

The day will be the occasion to reconnect younger generations with book reading and show them how literature can be a tool for individual empowerment. Reading can enable especially pupils in secondary education to engage with ongoing social and personal challenges. The new yearly celebration also aims at promoting the richness and diversity of European literature and is an opportunity to emphasise the importance of all the programmes and initiatives carried out by individual European countries to promote reading.

Secondary schools across Europe have been encouraged to organise reading aloud sessions, either with an author, a popular personality or a representative of the book sector to tell pupils about the different professions involved in the production of a book from author to illustrator, to translator, editor, and many more. More than 1,000 schools across Europe are organising reading aloud sessions on the 2023 EU Authors Day.

This year, 100 European authors will visit schools to read aloud a piece of their works and encourage students to discover European authors. The Commission organises this tour of European authors in collaboration with the European Writers Council and the European Union Prize of Literature consortium.

Also on 27 March, the Day of European Authors Conference, a one-day conference on reading promotion, is taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria. The conference will gather EU countries’ representatives of the culture and education ministries, public institutions and national NGOs active in this field as well as organisations representing the publishing sector at European level. It is an opportunity to share examples and practices on how the education system and the publishing sector are collaborating to promote reading in schools at local, national and European level. The conference can be followed online.

On the Day of European Authors, everybody is invited to engage sharing the image of a book by his or her favourite European author on social media with the hashtag #ReadWithEurope.

Background

The new Day of European Authors aims to shed light on everything European literature can offer to a young audience and heighten the youth’s interest in reading in a fun and inclusive way. Further, it aims to reinforce the circulation of literature in Europe and strengthen the competitiveness of the publishing sector.

The Day of European Authors, held for the first time this year, is an initiative of the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme Culture strand, which supports literature and publishing. Creative Europe’s Culture strand already hosts the European Union Prize for Literature, co-finances translation efforts to make European literature more accessible, and connects audiences with European Literature, goals that the Day of European Authors also strives to support.

More Information

• Day of European Authors | Culture and Creativity (europa.eu)
• European Union Prize for Literature | Culture and Creativity (europa.eu)
• Circulation of European literary works and literary translations | Culture and Creativity (europa.eu)
• Facebook: Creative Europe
• Twitter: Creative Europe
• Instagram: Creative EU
• Hashtags: #ReadWithEurope #CreativeEurope