Press release, 8 October 2015
The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania hosted the international conference titled Children’s and Young Adults’ Reading as Challenge in the 21st century: Libraries Empower Social Changes 2015, initiated by Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania and dedicated to the state visit of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden to Lithuania.
In her welcome address, Loreta Graužinienė, Speaker of the Seimas, noted that the issue of reading by children and teenagers became a great challenge for every society in the era of information technologies. Mrs Graužinienė stressed that she supported all ideas aimed at encouraging children to read.
“A book can help a child to grow up if it is offered at the right time and in the right place. Perhaps we should also review school programmes and treat compulsory reading more flexibly, because contemporary education specialists stress the uniqueness of every child and the need to stimulate that quality,” Mrs Graužinienė said.
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Photo of the Seimas Office (author Olga Posaškova) |
H.M. Queen Silvia of Sweden spoke of the importance of translations in promoting the development of democracy worldwide. “Society needs not only economic growth but also democratic development, which requires a free culture and independent people to implement it. Translators, publishers, illustrators, and libraries are all playing a significant role in providing children with access to literature. The future picture of the world will depend on the power of imagination that those who are now learning to read will have one day.”
Representatives of Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, organiser of the event, highlighted that Sweden was famous for its special focus on children’s literature, the way it fosters, receives, and disseminates it and engages in the cultural exchange. Lithuania is starting to put greater focus on children’s literature while Sweden is often treated as a role model, as more and more books by Swedish authors are being translated into Lithuanian, there is an interest in the reading promotion programmes and literature awards offered there, and cooperation with children’s literature researchers and publishers from Sweden is ongoing. In addition to marking the royal state visit, this conference was also dedicated to establishing closer ties between the Lithuanian and Swedish children’s literature specialists, librarians, lecturers, teachers, publishers, translators, and writers and sharing their experiences, achievements, and ideas.
Saulė Eglė Trembo, Public Relations Unit, Communications Department, Office of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6203, e-mail: [email protected]
