«CIf you don’t read, at 70 you will have lived only one life: your own. Whoever reads will have lived 5000 years.” The great Umberto Eco rightly said it, wanting to underline the absolute importance of books and reading to broaden the boundaries of our mind. A reality, however, little shared by Italians who, instead, according tolatest Istat survey entitled “Noi Italia” they have never read so little as in 2023.
#ireadbecause… it’s fundamental
According to the latest annual report of the National Institute of Statistics, in fact, the percentage of Italians aged six and over who have read at least one book in the last year, and not for strictly scholastic or work reasons, it is equal to 39.3% of the population.
These are figures that should make us reflect and that make them take on even more importance to the campaign of the Italian Publishers Association #ireadwhythe largest national reading promotion initiative, created to support reading through school libraries.
From 4 to 12 November you can go to the bookshop and donate a book to school libraries (@instagram)
Donate a book to a school
From 4 to 12 November, anyone who wants can go to a bookshop registered with the project e choose a book to give to schools from North to South, of every type and level. A campaign entitled “A book makes you grow up” which reached its ninth edition achieving great results.
#Ireadbecause I support school libraries
The initiative, in fact, it managed to give Italian schools one library in five, as Renata Gorgani, AIE vice-president, reported during the presentation. But not only that, because thanks to #ioleggobecause the individual loan of books has increased And workshops dedicated to reading have grown. Last year more than half a million books were donated to schools, while in seven years there have been two and a half million books given away.
The initiative helps the most fragile contexts
But clearly much more can be done. The Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara spoke via video link to underline «the importance of reading as an immersion within oneself and as a relationship between the self and the world”. But to also highlight the attention of the #ioleggobecause campaign to the most fragile contexts, starting with flooded schools in Emilia Romagna to which a special donation of 4 thousand books will go and to those of Caivano (Naples).
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