Bulgaria Hosts the 2023 Annual General Meeting of EURead

On June 5th and 6th, 2023, Sofia will host this year’s general meeting of EURead, the literacy network, which will take place outside Brussels for the first time. Under the motto ‘Literacy across Europe: Reading is the Key,’ the summit will bring together leading experts from 20 countries, specializing in literacy, reading promotion, education, publishing, and communications.

Among the featured speakers are members of the EURead Board, including Dr. Jörg F. Maas, Executive Director of the Reading Foundation (Germany), Diana Gerald, Chief Executive of Book Trust (England, Wales, Northern Ireland), Gerlien van Dalen, Executive Director of the Reading Foundation (The Netherlands) and others.

During the forum, participants will exchange experiences and present projects and initiatives for promoting reading at national and global levels.

“The latest studies from OECD and research institutes have documented clearly, that reading competencies have never been as bad as nowadays. More than 70 million Europeans lack these basic skills and have therefore no access to education, training and the labour market. It is time to remind political leaders across Europe that there is no economic and intellectual future without literacy and reading promotion. The Annual General Meeting of EURead this year in Sofia will be another milestone to call for more political commitment, for more financial support and better programmes for literacy and education.” – said Dr. Jörg F. Maas, Chair of EURead. 

The meetings will be opened by Boyko Blagoev, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria, Katarina Barley, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and Miroslav Borshosh, Deputy Mayor for “Culture, Education, Sports, and Youth Activities” of Sofia Municipality. The event will be held at the Information Center of the European Union and the American Center at the Stolichna Library in Sofia.

You can follow the event on LinkedIn and other social media by using the hashtags #EURead #EuropeReads #ReadingIsTheKey