The European Authors' Day celebrations, entitled Read. For Real!, began on November 11th and will continue until December 12th across Europe.
This autumn, all of Europe is celebrating creativity and the love of books. European Authors' Day 2025 has officially launched.„Read. For Real! Read. Seriously!” is the motto of this unique, pan-European celebration of literature, imagination, and human creativity.
From today, everyone – schools, libraries, kindergartens, bookstores, publishing houses, cultural centers, local authorities, businesses, non-governmental organizations and individuals – are invited to join in celebrating the European Authors' Day #ReadForReal, which will run from November 11 to December 12.
European authors will visit countries other than their homeland, meeting audiences speaking different languages. European Authors' Day #ReadForReal this is the way to to honor those who create literature – writers, illustrators, translators. Creation is the essence of humanity. An encounter with an author is an encounter with a superhero of sorts.
On the website www.readforreal.com/pl Participants will find an invitation to participate and free materials that will help them organize their own events: lesson plans, illustrations, logos, posters, bookmarks, tags and other useful resources.
„"Meetings with authors and reading books may not sound innovative to many of our recipients. People who already read and have high language skills
and social – will find nothing surprising or new in this idea. The challenge is to build awareness that It is these seemingly simple reading experiences and conversations that shape our minds and make us who we are.. We want to show,
That Inclusive democracy can only survive if we all strive to ensure that access to reading and the exchange of ideas is universal, not elitist.. Our motto, following Gandhi, is: Be the change you want to see in the world. We invite everyone to participate – the entire book sector (from authors to booksellers and librarians), as well as representatives education, business, social welfare, local governments – anyone who wants to use this project to develop their teams, local communities, students, employees, customers and even products,” he says Maria Deskur, consortium leader and president of the Polish Universal Reading Foundation.
The European celebrations are open to everyone. 25 countries above 200,000 registered participants will take part in live events, almost 3,600 initiatives literary and reading. Everyone can participate, organizing your own event or joining an existing one – downloadable materials are available to everyone on the project website: www.readforreal.com/pl.
In Poland, as many as 2,000 Polish Post offices, and the official inauguration took place
at the Main Post Office in Warsaw.
"The post office is where people really are
And every day, hundreds of thousands of people pass through our 7,600 branches. This is a significant scale. When they come to the post office, they come into contact with books. We've been selling them for years, and that won't change. In many smaller towns, we're the only 'bookstore.' That's why we're participating in the European Authors' Day initiative. #ReadForReal, #ReadSeriously – seriously. We're sharing our network to bring books closer to people. says Sebastian Mikosz, president of Poczta Polska SA.
On the occasion of European Authors' Day #ReadForReal customers who buy the book at Poczta Polska branches will receive a special „"winging notebook"” – a little companion for jotting down ideas, reflections, and books to read. Entrances to Polish Post offices have been marked and invite you to the celebration with the slogan Read. Seriously!
Read. For Real! Read. For Real!
Read. Seriously! is an invitation to true and profound reading – through experiencing literature in person, meeting authors, illustrators, translators, discovering stories that inspire and change the way we think, training our minds to notice nuances, building knowledge, and developing analytical and deductive thinking. In a world full of screens and applications, the slogan #ReadForReal #CreadSeriously reminds us that reading is a live, real experience: that it strengthens empathy, critical thinking and concentration – key skills necessary in today’s „offline” world – increasingly emphasized as a condition for our development.
„"Let us discover books, not only to get to know them, but
and understand. Project #ReadSeriously This is another important initiative that encourages this. We must encounter the first book in our lives that makes us want to reach for more, that makes us love reading.
and we will become readers – conscious, critical, but also open – to the world and people. Such a book awaits everyone. We can encounter it unexpectedly. That's why books should be part of everyday life, our surroundings, physically available in many places we visit. Let's talk about books and buy them as gifts." says Tomasz Makowski, president of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, director of the National Library, one of the seven organizations that make up the consortium of project organizers.
How to Join?
The project has an open formula for everyone.
Just visit the website www.readforreal.com/pl, to learn more and download free materials. The Consortium kindly requests that you register for events via the website – whether it's a lesson, workshop, reading challenge, author event, or local book fair.
Already 25 national coordination centers (hubs) in 25 European countries support participants in their own languages and provide online materials.
You have many opportunities to get involved:
- Organize an event in your community.
- Invite the author, illustrator, translator.
- Participate in a family reading session.
- Join a team reading challenge.
- Create your own local initiative to promote reading through live meetings.
The organizers' goal is not only to invite people to promote reading, but also to discover the simple joy that books bring. European Authors Day becomes the great fest of literature! under the slogan #ReadForReal this is also great opportunity, to visit the bookstore and buy books for friends and family – because reading brings people together and a good book is the perfect gift: #Good BookGood Gift
„"European Authors' Day #Czytaj.Serio is a great opportunity to create a tradition of celebrating literature, not only individually, but also together, because readers understand other readers. When we read the same stories, we always experience them differently, but we still have much in common. Celebrating, inviting people to reach for books, buying them as gifts – let it be especially visible from November 11th to December 12th, every year!" says Jerzy Szmid, president of Garmond Press.
The celebrations will take place every year from November 11 to December 12. The dream of the organizers is to establish lasting tradition – a true European festival of literature and creativity that will engage millions of readers and thousands of authors across the continent.
Why is this important?
Above 75 million adults in Europe struggles with reading comprehension. This is a problem that affects the economy, society, and democracy. Reading is not just a pleasure—it is a key tool to ensure equal opportunities and an essential condition for our common, better future as Europeans, as emphasized by experts
in the context of the skills needed in the era of artificial intelligence.
Who is behind this?
The European Authors' Day project #ReadForReal coordinates a consortium of seven organizations from five countries, whose leader is The Universal Reading Foundation (Poland). Co-organizers are:
- National Library (Poland)
- Stiftung Lesen (Germany)
- Ciclic Centre-Val de Loire (France)
- Chetene (Bulgaria)
- Federation of European Publishers
- EURead
- Universal Reading Foundation (Poland) – consortium leader
The project is part of the program Creative Europe and includes:
- Annual celebration of the European Authors' Day,
- Cyclic international workshops for reading promoters, the first of which will take place in Warsaw on November 13-14
- International conferences "Literacy for Democracy" organized by the Universal Reading Foundation
Join the #ReadForReal project
Go to www.readforreal.com/pl, find inspiration, download materials, organize an event, register it on the website, and subscribe to the newsletter. Let's celebrate the power of words, imagination, and creativity together.
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