Celebrating its fifth year, the Christmas of Books travelled across Lithuania, inviting people to read and donate books for children and young people. Local libraries held more than 1700 events. The initiative Volunteering for the Christmas of Books, launched for the first time, was joined by several thousand lovers of books and staged book readings in children's care homes, nursing homes, socialization centers, and local communities.
"The Christmas of Books campaign has become a nation-wide movement bringing together avid book readers throughout the country. Books help reduce social exclusion, encourage people to communicate and to share with those who have less. Thousands of new books will bring joy to libraries located from Didžiasalis to Skuodas. I sincerely thank everyone actively engaged in the campaign," President Dalia Grybauskaitė said.
The first ever Christmas of Books minibus visited towns and villages throughout Lithuania. The Writers Club and the Bookland team organized book readings and creative workshops in Varėna, Biržai, Kelmė, Šalčininkai, Švenčionys, Kaunas, Palanga, and Vilnius.
A special edition of Kęstutis Kasparavičius' "Dream Kitty" was printed and distributed among all public libraries to celebrate the fifth birthday of the Christmas of Books. The donation gift was funded by publishing houses Nieko Rimto, BALTO Print Ltd and Papyrus Lietuva Ltd.
The retail chain IKI, which took part in the Christmas of Books campaign for the second year, promised to double the number of books donated by its customers. IKI will present a total of 2000 new books to local libraries this year. More than 1000 books were bought and donated by the customers of the Rimi Hypermarket chain.
The Christmas of Books campaign engaged over 2300 public and school libraries across the country. Local people, communities, business and social organizations, publishers and writers contributed many books. The campaign was traditionally supported by the embassies of Ireland, Azerbaijan, Japan, the United States of America, Poland, Norway, and other countries.
The books collected will be distributed to all Lithuania's public and school libraries. New books will also reach Lithuanian schools in Belarus, Poland, Latvia, and the Kaliningrad region; they will be sent to Lithuanian communities in Scotland and Australia.
The five campaign years produced 172 thousand books for local libraries. Last year, 40 thousand new books were collected.
The national Christmas of Books campaign is conducted together with friends: the Lithuanian Librarians Association, the Lithuanian Publishers Association, the Association of Lithuanian Printing Industries, the Lithuanian Small and Medium-sized Publishers Association, the publishing house of the Lithuanian Association for Writers and the Writers' Club, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library, the Education Development Centre, bookstore chains Vaga, Pegasas, Knygų Namai, and Humanitas, retail chains IKI and Rimi Lietuva, publishing houses Alma Littera and Nieko Rimto, Sigutė Chlebinskaitė's creative studio "You Can Create a Book", Lithuanian Radio and Television, TV channel Penki TV, news portal 15 min.lt, and radio station Laisvoji Banga.
