#ioleggoperché From 7 to 15 November, everyone is invited to donate a book to schools and nurseries via the 4,135 participating bookshops

Saturday 7 November marks the start of the eleventh edition of #ioleggoperché, the social initiative organised by the Italian Publishers’ Association (AIE) to establish and improve school libraries. Until Sunday 15 November, anyone can visit one of the 4,135 participating bookshops (list here) to buy and donate a book to the 30,610 participating schools and, for the first time on a national scale, to the 4,004 registered nurseries (list of schools and nurseries). This campaign involves over 4.4 million children and young people and more than 110,000 partnerships between schools and bookshops, thanks to which everyone can choose which organisation to donate to.

The campaign, entitled ‘A Growing Community’ this year, is supported by the Ministry of Culture through the Centre for Books and Reading and is organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Merit, the Italian Library Association (AIB), the Italian Booksellers’ Association (ALI) and the Italian Booksellers’ and Stationers’ Union (SIL), with the support of Anita | A programme of the Cariplo Foundation. At the end of the initiative, the books donated by members of the public will be supplemented by 100,000 volumes made available by publishers, which this year will be allocated to schools in Calabria, Sardinia and Molise that have applied for them – regions that have so far benefited less from the project.

“From Saturday, every participating bookshop will become a hub for reading for schools and, from this year, for nurseries across Italia,” said AIE President Innocenzo Cipolletta. #ioleggoperché is growing because the participation of those involved is growing: citizens, families, teachers, booksellers and publishers. We welcome with deep gratitude the High Patronage of the President of the Republic, granted to the initiative for the first time: it is a recognition that rewards ten years of collective effort and commits us to bringing books with even greater vigour, especially to places where they have reached fewer people so far. We ask everyone to visit a bookshop over the next nine days, choose a book and donate it to a school or nursery in their local area.”

For the first time in its history, in fact, #ioleggoperché is taking place under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic – a distinction through which the Head of State expresses his support for initiatives of particular cultural and social value and of national significance. The High Patronage comes in addition to the President of the Republic’s Medal, which had already been awarded to the initiative in previous editions.

The #ioleggoperché Messengers are also returning to bookshops: keen readers, students over the age of 18 and teachers who will be working alongside booksellers, helping the public to choose a book to donate and to find out how the initiative works. Numerous authors are also taking part in the campaign, including Stefania Auci, Luca Azzolini, Elisa Maria Bottiglieri and Marianna Folli, Giuditta Campello, Gaja Cenciarelli, Gian Andrea Cerone, Santina Cosetta, Francesca Costenaro, Luca Crovi, Francesco D’Adamo, Floriana D’Amico, Maurizio de Giovanni, Claudia De Lillo, Giulia Della Cioppa, Alessandro Di Nuzzo, Gabriella Genisi, Antonio Ferrara, Giuseppe Festa, Barbara Franco, Enrico Galiano, Luigi Garlando, Angela Iantosca, Kento, Roberta Lippi, Chiara Lossani, Nicola Lucchi, Andrea Maggi, Valentina Mastroianni, Silvia Montemurro, Roberto Morgese, Francesco Muzzopappa, Daniele Nicastro, Cristina Obber, Melissa Panarello, Valentina Pericci, Cecilia Randall, Pera Toons, Licia Troisi. Thanks to their involvement, the appeal for donations reaches readers and communities throughout Italia.