Today, Europe Day, just under a month before the European elections, the European and International Booksellers’ Federation (EIBF) has launched a new campaign within the framework of its emblematic project RISE Bookselling that highlights Bookstores as welcoming and inclusive spacess.
Bookstores are open, inclusive and welcoming spaces for everyone. However, amid growing polarization and censorship, they are in the spotlight around the world for doing what they do best: providing a space in which literacy is promoted, and in which a diverse range of books and ideas can coexist and thrive.
To defend bookstores, promote their unique role in promoting the values of peace, democracy and tolerance, and remind policymakers of their need for support and book-friendly policies, from May 13 to May 10 June, this campaign will give a voice to booksellers across the RISE network who go above and beyond to ensure their bookstores are welcoming and inclusive spaces for all.
Each week, the campaign will highlight different booksellers who will explain how to:
- Bookstores make people feel represented
- Bookstores are safe havens where everyone is welcome
- Bookstores foster a sense of community and belonging
- Bookstores are spaces for education, dialogue and the promotion of literacy.
Although this campaign is framed in a European context, given the European elections of June 6 to 9, 2024, the EIBF recognizes that all bookstores in the world embody the same values of openness and tolerance, so it will also seek contributions from its network broader, to show the universality of these values in the book sales sector.
If you want to participate in this campaign and join the conversation, you can do so through the EIBF social networks, using the hashtag #MYbookshopOURspace.
All contributions from booksellers will be available in a dedicated section of the RISE Bookselling website.
