The Ministry of Culture grants 2.4 million euros in aid for the promotion of reading in 2023

• In particular, 207 projects have been supported to promote the reading of municipalities, non-profit institutions, companies and private foundations • Initiatives with an impact on the youth population, preferential care groups and the promotion of reading in rural areas • The grants are part of the Reading Promotion Plan 2021-2024, ‘Infinite Reading’, to promote activities and programmes for the dissemination of reading, books and Spanish literature

December 12, 2023.- The Ministry of Culture, through the General Directorate of Books, Comics and Reading, has resolved the granting of aid to finance activities to promote reading for a total amount of 2,394,220.49 euros. The grants are part of the call for grants in 2023 under competitive competition for the promotion of Spanish reading and literature.

In total, 207 projects of municipalities, non-profit organizations, companies and private foundations have benefited. Specifically, aid has been granted to 97 projects of non-profit institutions in the amount of 1,258,000 euros; 62 projects of private companies in the amount of 686,462 euros; and 48 projects of local entities in the total amount of 449,758.49 euros.

This grant line is part of the Reading Promotion Plan 2021-2024, entitled ‘Infinite Reading’, whose objective is to increase the reading rates in Spain and break all the structural gaps to turn reading into a real social habit.

In this regard, projects with an impact on the youth population, preferential care groups (older people, women victims of gender violence, population at risk of social exclusion, people with functional diversity or penitentiary institutions) and actions to promote reading in rural areas have been particularly valued. It also includes projects to promote reading among the general public, such as congresses, meetings and literary festivals. The evaluation committee has also taken into account, for the granting of the grants, the supra-regional scope of the project and the communication between the different languages of the State.

Projects such as ‘X Manchacómic’, by the Association of Friends of the Comic of Ciudad Real; ‘Dogs and Letters: promotion of reading in prison population and children and youth’, by the Association Dogs and Letters -R.E.A.D. Spain; ‘Mi Pueblo lee 2023’, from the Mi Pueblo Lee Association; the ‘Program for the Promotion of Reading in Children and Adolescents with Deafness’, from the FIAPAS Confederation; ‘Small Patients, Large Readers’, from the Fundación Cultura in Vena; or the ‘Health and Reading Program: Network of Libraries for Patients’, from the Health Education Foundation; among many others.

Reading Promotion Plan 2021-2024

The Reading Promotion Plan 2021-2024 of the Ministry of Culture is presented as a structured strategic plan, based on continuous improvement, for the promotion of reading in Spain. Under the motto ‘Infinite reading’, the plan aims to increase the reading rates in Spain and contribute to resituate the reading fact beyond a leisure instrument, recognizing reading as a fundamental vehicle for health, learning, social cohesion and the digital economy.

To this end, the document poses twelve challenges, among which are the increase in adolescent readers, access to reading in the rural world and among the vulnerable population, the redefinition of the concept of reading or innovation in the promotion of reading, among others. These challenges are met by programmes that take concrete action.

In order to make the plan viable, the General Directorate of Books, Comics and Reading has increased the budget for reading from 2021 to reach an overall figure of 39.6 million euros until 2024.