OKUYAY Platform’s first business visit, Bologna!
OKUYAY Platform’s Project Coordinator, Ebru Şenol, realised the platform’s first business visit, participating in a set of meetings in Bologna.
First of these meetings was an EU Read panel, part of Bologna Fiere (Children’s Book Fair). During the panel, spokespeople for the platform gave some general information on EU Read and their new project – for which an extra-large notebook will be carried all around volunteering countries who support reading culture by affiliating with their governments. It aims at raising public awareness about reading in a wide range of countries. They plan to tell about their project, using the photos that have been attached to the notebook. The second half of the panel was mainly concerned with supporting Swedish books and some exemplary practices regarding this support.
Şenol, who conducted a meeting with representatives from EU Read and Stiftun Lesen on April 2, informed them about the OKUYAY Project. She received some information concerning the EU Read Conference which will be held in Brussels, as we, as the OKUYAY Platform, will participate in there as well. Şenol, as part of the platform, inquired whether she could make a presentation on the OKUYAY Project while in there. Along with that, she conveyed our wish to be included in the EU Read Project -in the context of the dissemination of reading culture- following an event that governmental authorities support.
On the very same day, Our Project Coordinator participated in the opening of SDG Book Club, which is an EU Project that is being conducted in collaboration with International Publishers Association (abbreviated IPA). Şenol also joined the project’s publicity meeting and received general information concerning it. The project aims at selecting a short list of books for children, young adults and adults, that relates to EU’s sustainable development goals. Every month, an SDG will be selected, and a short list of books will be announced in six official languages of EU.
On April 3, our Project Coordinator met with Elizabeth Page, the manager of the International Board on Books for Young People (abbreviated IBBY) which is a non-profit organisation and an international network formed by people serving to unite books and children from all around the world. During the meeting where Şenol informed the participants about the OKUYAY Project, Page talked about IBBY’s worldwide works.
Şenol also had a meeting with Italian Publishers Association (abbreviated AIE); there, she received some information on the Aldus Project which is a European Book Fairs network and aims at encouraging international mobility of European literary publications and also of book professionals. The project is funded by Creative Europe Programme and is named after Aldo Manuzio.
In the second half of the meeting, Şenol learned about AIE’s publicity campaign which is known as “Io Leggo Perché” (Why Do I Read?). To support the campaign which is committed to establish a network among schools in rural regions, librarians and bookstores, citizens buy books from the bookstores in these regions and donate them to public school libraries. The company is largely supported by libraries as well. Thanks to this project, people are establishing a network that will eventually add more and more books to libraries in little towns.
Ebru Şenol participated lastly in a meeting with IPA and Elsevier Publishing, where she talked about OKUYAY Platform in detail.
