A Thank You from the President to a Group of Companies Penki Kontinentai, a Partner of Knygų Kalėdos (Christmas of Books)

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 19^th, a celebration was held to mark the event’s closing, where the President awarded partners of the campaign with certificates of appreciation and discussed the campaign results.

“The Christmas of Books campaign has become a universal movement bringing together book lovers from all over the country. Books must help reduce social exclusion, encourage communication, and share books with those who really need them. Thousands of new books will bring joy to readers and reach libraries in the country’s most remote corners: Didžiasalis to Skuodas. I am truly grateful to everyone who actively participated in the campaign”, said the President.

This year, the campaign covered the entire country and raised 50 thousand new books for its 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 organized readings in children’s and retirement homes, socialization centers, and household units.

The group of companies Penki Kontinentai and its TV show Knygos per Penki TV, which was among the campaign’s information sponsors, also contributed to the Christmas of Books and received the certificate of appreciation for its kind cooperation. The show’s creative team covered the events during the campaign, authors of books and their work, organized discussions on the most relevant literature-related topics and visited children’s homes.

Julija Usova, the producer of Knygos per Penki TV, is satisfied with the campaign’s participation 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. We visited Atžalynas children’s home in Kaunas and 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 discovering 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 county’s libraries.