«He knew how to read. It was the most important discovery of his entire life. He knew how to read. He possessed the antidote against the terrible poison of old age.” Neither The old man who read romance novels (1989), the Chilean Luis Sepúlveda, who passed away in 2020, also imagined the power of reading in this way. A power that enriches, sets free, fills and emancipates. And every year is dedicated to the power of books May of books, the national campaign to promote reading by the Center for Books and Reading (Cepell). Which returns on Tuesday 23 April (and will continue until 31 May) in its 14th edition dedicated to the theme If you read you will free yourself (in continuity with Libriamoci, the other historic Cepell campaign, which last November involved thousands of schools throughout Italy).
An event that every spring – since 2011 – invites us to spread the taste for reading throughout Italy, in contexts different from the more traditional ones, trying to reach an audience of non-readers, through initiatives and events. And that begins coinciding with the UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day.
The inauguration of «May» will be held on Tuesday 23 April in Rome at 11.30 am in the Cepell headquarters (via Pasquale Stanislao Mancini) with the godmother of honor Dacia Maraini who will dialogue in the meeting The happy Union: the Europe of lib(e)rswith the professor and essayist Guido Vitiello (author of Happy readingthe Assayer).
The event is organized by Cepell in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Strasbourg and the «Corriere della Sera», and it will be possible to follow it live streaming on -(as well as on the websites and social profiles of Cepell and the Iic of Strasbourg).
The May of Books opens in the name of Europe because on the same day Strasbourg – the symbolic city and home of the European Union – also inaugurates its year of UNESCO World Book Capital.
He will also be present at the inauguration Adriano Monti Buzzetti, president of Cepell, who, speaking of the campaign, explained that «it has taken root in the territory and in the hearts of the public, as demonstrated by a growing awareness of the need to promote reading, and by an equally vivid creativity on the part of the many different interlocutors in civil society , thus broadening the scope and contents of a cultural proposal that sees new or rediscovered familiarity with books as a vehicle for social progress and personal evolution.” He will also be there to do the honors the director Luciano Lanna: «Today – he underlined – we are faced with the challenges of a further revolution, with global digitalisation and increasingly diversified and transversal reading methods, in format and diffusion: what has however remained constant over the centuries, and of which we must continuing to take care is the centrality of the “book” medium, with the knowledge it can transmit and the skills of citizenship and freedom that it refines”.
After the inauguration, initiatives organized by citizens, teachers, booksellers, publishers, bookbloggers, mayors, students and all book lovers participating in the campaign will begin (it is possible to register on: ilmaggiodeilibri.cepell.it). There are three strands in which it has declined: Free to knowon the world of information, non-fiction and historical fiction; Free to dream, on fiction, particularly fantasy, and biographies; And Free to createabout poetry.
This year too, the initiatives registered in the database contribute to the 13th edition of the May of Books Award, awarded to the five best reading promotion projects carried out in the same categories: libraries, cultural associations, schools, prisons, healthcare and elderly care facilities, bookshops. The winners will be announced during Più libri liberi, in Rome (4-8 December).
Furthermore, connected to «May» there will also be special events such as, to name a few, the participation of Cepell in the Turin International Book Fair; the activities of the Treccani Cultura Foundation or those of the Feltrinelli and Libraccio bookshops. This is how an idea is born that flies onto the pages of books to once again spread the liberating force of reading.
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