The Christmas of Books campaign initiated by the President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė for the fifth consecutive year is now over. On January 19th, a celebration was held to mark the closing of the event, where the President awarded partners of the campaign with certificates of appreciation and discussed the results of the campaign.
Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite (left) awards the Book Christmas campaign partner Penki Kontinentai’s Gytis Vincevicius and Aina Kurduliene with a certificate of gratitude
The Christmas of Books campaign initiated by the President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė for the fifth consecutive year is now over. On January 19th, a celebration was held to mark the closing of the event, where the President awarded partners of the campaign with certificates of appreciation and discussed the results of the campaign.
“The Christmas of Books campaign has become a universal movement bringing together book lovers from all over the country. It is important that books help to reduce social exclusion, encourage communication and sharing books with those who really need them. Thousands of new books will bring joy to readers and reach libraries in the most remote corners of the country: from Didžiasalis to Skuodas. I am truly grateful to everyone who actively participated in the campaign”, said the President.
The campaign covered the entire country and, this year, helped to raise 50 thousand new books for the country’s public and school libraries. Libraries participating in the campaign organized more than 1,700 events. Volunteers of the Christmas of Books, an initiative launched for the first time, brought together several thousands of book lovers and helped to organize readings in children’s and retirement homes, socialization centres and household units.
The group of companies Penki Kontinentai and its TV show Knygos per Penki TV, which was among the information sponsors of the campaign, also contributed to the Christmas of Books and received the certificate of appreciation for its kind cooperation. The creative team of the show covered the events that took place during the period of the campaign, authors of books and their work, organized discussions on the most relevant literature-related topics, and visited children’s homes.
Julija Usova, producer of Knygos per Penki TV, is satisfied with the participation in the campaign and says that it has become a beautiful tradition for the company. “We are happy that, for the second consecutive year, we were able to take part in this noble campaign and share the joy of reading. This year, we accepted the invitation of the organizers to become volunteers and visited Atžalynas children’s home in Kaunas together with Danguolė Kandrotienė, an author of children’s books and Director of Terra Publica publishing house. We hope that meeting with the author and the books that we donated will encourage the children to experience the joy of discovery of books, which will guide them throughout the year and, maybe, throughout their lives”, says J. Usova.
There were more than 2,300 public and school libraries taking part in the Christmas of Books campaign. Many books were donated by the people, communities, publishers and authors. As part of the tradition, the campaign was also supported by foreign embassies: Irish, Azerbaijanian, Japanese, United States of America, Polish, Norwegian, etc. Over the five years of the Christmas of Books campaign, more than 172 thousand books were donated to the country’s libraries.
More about the campaign