ZAGREB, 13 March 2022 - The 11th edition of Book Night, the national event promoting reading and books, will take place on 22-25 April, coinciding with World Book and Copyright Day (23 April) and Croatian Book Day (22 April), the organisers announced earlier this week.

The focus of this year's event will be on "books as a space of freedom".

This year marks two important anniversaries - the 400th anniversary of the birth of French playwright Molière, who found his space of freedom in farce and comedy, using them as a vehicle for a critique of the society of his time, and the 100th anniversary of he birth of Croatian poet Vesna Parun.

The organisers expect over a thousand programmes by libraries, bookshops, publishers, educational institutions, museums, local government authorities and other institutions and organisations. Admission to many of the events will be free.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 19 April, 2021 - The Croatian Culture and Media Ministry on Monday announced the 10th Book Night, to be held on Friday, 23 April, as one of the activities planned for this year, which has been declared a Year of Reading.

Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said at a news conference that dedicating the year 2021 to reading was part of the national strategy promoting reading, which had gained special importance in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, when organising cultural events involving a large number of participants had become impossible.

It was therefore only natural to dedicate this year to reading, "an activity that we associate with our intimate space, that does not jeopardise anyone and that enriches everyone involved in it," she said.

The minister said that the results of a project on the role of reading in building an inclusive society, for which funding was secured from the European Social Fund, would be published soon, as well as that funds that would not be mobilised due to a ban on international fairs would be redirected to promote domestic cultural activities.

Obuljen Koržinek expressed confidence those activities would result in better indicators regarding books and reading and that trends on reading habits, which have been stagnating for a long time, would change for the better.

Maja Zrnčić of the Culture and Media Ministry spoke about programmes to take place in the Year of Reading.

She said an important goal of the event was to make existing programmes - awards, festivals, fairs and other book events - more visible, as well as promote new programmes, including the project "Born to read", which promotes a love of reading from early years onwards and as part of which free picture books will be distributed to pediatric offices across the country to be passed on to parents.

The ministry also intends to improve the status of authors and translators and make them more visible.

Another event, which is part of the national strategy promoting reading, is National Day of Reading, when Croatians will be reading at the same time at different places.

In October, an international conference on ways to promote reading will be held.

There is also a plan to declare public figures, such as actors, athletes, doctors and the like, ambassadors of reading.

Local and regional government units have been asked to enable free library membership for all young people this year, Zrnčić said while speaking about the activities planned for this year to promote reading.

ZAGREB, April 23, 2019 - The eighth edition of Book Night, an annual event aimed at promoting reading and books, was formally inaugurated at the National and University Library in Zagreb on Tuesday amid alarming reports about a sharp decline in book reading from the previous year.

The latest survey of reading habits, carried out by the Kvaka agency, revealed a decline in book reading in Croatia in the past year, from 56 percent in 2017 to 42 percent in 2018.

The opening ceremony was addressed by Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divljak, who highlighted the importance of book reading and its impact on social development.

Nenad Bartolčić, a member of the organising committee, spoke of negative developments in the country, noting that both the number of people who had read at least one book last year and the number of people who had bought at least one book in the last three months had dropped. He also drew attention to a decline in book production and "a chronic shortage of quality releases."

"This a long-standing negative trend which we are trying to stop and even reverse, through this event as well. That will require far more activities from all sector stakeholders because one or several events are not enough," Bartolčić said.

Book Night is held to mark World Book and Copyright Day, which is observed on April 23, and Croatian Book Day, marked on April 22. It is being held in 175 cities and towns across Croatia, with over 800 programmes. This year's theme is "Favourite Book and Comic Book Characters and Heroes".

More news about books can be found in the Lifestyle section.