Participation of the State Institute For Culture in the First Edition of the Day Of European Authors - March 27, 2023
The State Institute for Culture actively participated in the launch of the new European initiative - Day of European Authors, which will be celebrated annually on March 27.
On the initiative of the Bulgarian European Commissioner for Innovation, Scientific Research, Culture, Education and Youth Maria Gabriel, the European Commission, with the support of the National Agencies of the member countries, on March 27, the day of European authors is launched. The idea is to hold the day annually on the last Monday of March to encourage reading, especially among young people, in order to familiarize themselves with literature and new publications. Building on the great variety of different initiatives existing in the member countries, this pan-European celebration aims to bring books and the education sector together, aiming to reconnect Europeans with reading and help them discover European literature and its linguistic and cultural diversity. The Day of European Authors aims to highlight literature as a way of introducing young people to the riches of European culture, as well as a tool for individual acquisition of skills contributing to providing learners with appropriate ways through reading to engage with ongoing social and personal challenges.
On this occasion, at the invitation of the director Snezhana Joveva and with the support and encouragement of the European Commissioner Maria Gabriel, students from the Vocational High School of Tourism, Samokov and their teachers visited the "Mission" gallery at the State Institute for Culture. The young people had the opportunity to listen to selected works of contemporary Bulgarian literature. The special guest of the event was the actor Vladimir Mihailov, who read excerpts from the book by Ivan Vladimirov - Naf - "Reading as a Multiple Orgasm" and from the novel "Absolvo Te" by Georgi Burdarov - winner of the 2021 European Prize for Literature. The actor provoked them with interesting questions and incidents that show what wealth reading is and how it opens new worlds to us.
Another special guest was the Bulgarian contemporary author Todora Radeva, who read the poet Ivan Landzhov's special speech for last year's May 24 holiday and his poem from the Poetic Anthology - Hidden Letters. She also presented to them the letter-benches project, of which the State Institute for Culture is a partner and which has visited a number of capitals and cities around the world. Some of the letters are now in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The writer Georgi Burdarov took part in the event with a special video address to the students, who shared that thanks to his love for books, his life went in a much better direction and quoted the great writer Gabriel García Márquez: “You have the right to look at someone from above, only if you give them a hand to get up.”
The students had the opportunity to visit and learn more about the sculpture park of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to take pictures with the "Read Sofia" Foundation's letter benches, provided by the author of the concept, Todora Radeva.
Literature is one of the tools in cultural diplomacy, and the initiative of the State Institute for Culture to participate in the celebration of the day of European authors is also a natural extension of the "Writing Diplomats" program, through which Bulgarian contemporary literature is promoted.