For a reading, open minded, critically thinking, democratic and strong Ukraine!
Reading books has proven to be the most effective tool to nurture social capital and inclusion, as well as to foster and raise scientists, entrepreneurs and inventors. Research in pediatrics, psychology, social sciences, neuroscience and education show that reading trains the human brain to think critically, understand complex meanings and accumulate data, while promoting empathy and teamwork. These are all crucial competencies of the future as they are now widely defined.
We believe strengthening literacy - boosting the percentage of kids and adults who read daily – In Ukraine starting today is the best possible way to help raise conscious, intelligent and active citizens and leaders for a better tomorrow of Ukraine, Europe and the world.
Programme
#LiteracyForDemocracy Conference Trailer
Selected conference presentations in Polish
Experts
Ołeksandr Tkaczenko
Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine since May 2020. Graduate of the National Kiev University, Harvard Business School and the INSEAD Business School in Singapore. Journalist, TV producer and manager.
Dr Tomasz Makowski
Director General of the National Library of Poland since 2007. Chair of the Polish Libraries’ Council, the National Reserve of Library Collections Committee and the National Ossoliński Institute; Co-chair of the Polish-Ukrainian Subcommittee on Library Affairs and Vice-chair of the Polish Committee of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.
Dr Joerg Maas
Chair of EURead and CEO of Stiftung Lesen. Board Member of Stichting PSI Europe; profesor of Non-Profit Management. Had previously served as Executive Director of the German Foundation for World Population and as a Senior Program Officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Oleksandra Koval
Director of the Ukrainian Book Institute since 2018; co-author of the National Strategy for Reading Promotion in Ukraine for 2023-2032. Awarded with the Princess Olga III class Medal by the State of Ukraine and the Gold Cross of Merit by the Republic of Poland.
prof. Barry Zuckerman
Professor and Chair Emeritus of the Department of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine; co-founder of Reach Out and Read; served on the National Commission on Children, the Carnegie Commission on Young Children; has consulted globally Turkey, Bangladesh, Serbia, Poland, Singapore, Norway and Taiwan; author of over 250 scientific publications
prof. Maryanne Wolf
UCLA Professor-in-Residence of Education, Director of the UCLA Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice; Director of the Center for Reading and Language Research, and Professor in the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University; member of the Pontifical Academy of Science at the Vatican; Honorary Advisory Fellow on the United Sigma Intelligence Association.
Cassie Chadderton
Chief Executive of World Book Day; previously Head of UK Theatre, had worked in publishing companies including Fourth Estate and Random House; chair of Culture Central, fellow of the RSA; works with Speakers for Schools and Creative Access.
Anna Novosad
Minister of education and science of Ukraine in 2019-2020. Since 2022 co-founder and leader of savED, a non-profit which aims to restore access to education in Ukraine upon the devastating consequences of the Russian full-scale aggression.
Maria Deskur
President of the Board of the Universal Reading Foundation, book publisher since 2002; reading promotion acitivist, winner of the Zwyrtała 2019 award for best reading promotion project author of the „SuperPower of Books, A Handbook for Promoting Reading”.
Fiona Evans
Director of School Programmes and part of the Senior Management Team at the National Literacy Trust. Graduated in Literacy Learning and Literacy Difficulties, has accumulated 25 years’ experience in teaching and working with children and families.
Olga Budnyk
Advisor to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on the Fund of the President of Ukraine for Support of Education, Science and Sports
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