In a corner of the Pontevedra municipality of Gondomar Born in 2006 An association is willing to encourage reading in the Galician language among birds of prey with recreational activities. Dezaoito years later, Espazo Lectura does not only have more than 200 people from all over the region, to the group of young people, regulars at their weekly and monthly clubs, who have their own library with More than 4,000 bookstwenty associated publishers and a bunch of recognitions. Lastly, at the state level. The Federation of Publishers’ Guilds of Spain awards the same Liber Prize to the best initiative to promote reading in libraries open to the public. All a proud for the entity. “It is very important for us that the State awards a project in Galician,” says the president, Yaiza Peixoto.
The jury praised “the exemplary and voluntary work” carried out by this reading family and that “it should be extended to the entire national territory, establishing itself as a clear example to follow” and highlighted its collaboration with educational centres in the area.
The board of directors will collect the award on October 2 at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, in Barcelona, as part of the activities of Liber 2024, internationally recognized as one of the main export fairs, shows and promotion of Spanish-language publishing.
Experiencing a taste for reading among the most captives is the main objective of Espazo Lectura.
18 years of history
Most of the age came loaded with good news for Espazo Lectura. She celebrated in January with the launch of the comprehensive renovation of the library she has in the parish of Donas, the Casa da Lectura. In May she received the Follas Novas award – given to the Galician Association of Editors, the Federation of Bookstores of Galicia and the Association of Writers in the Galician Language – for the second time in her history, also for her work in promoting reading. . Now she made the state jump and achieved her second recognition outside the Galician borders. The previous one was the second prize for Sociocultural Dynamization from the Everest publishing house and was received in March 2010.
More than a hundred children attend the entity’s weekly or monthly sessions
There are more recognitions throughout this time that the board feels “very grateful and proud”, but there is something that the people of Espazo Lectura are satisfied with “being a tribe”, the president made clear. “Because reading is easy, people are afraid of our clubs, they expand their social environment… in the end we are a meeting place where readings are shared and many more things are shared,” she explains.
A reader met at Casa da Lectura de Donas.
You main Galician authors –Ledicia Costas, Fran Alonso, Paula Carballeira, María Reimóndez, Iria Misa, among others– went through some more than 10 fixed and punctual activities that the collective organizes throughout the year. They have reading clubs for all ages, story sessions for the little ones, or we find “Fogueira dos verses”, which brought together more than five people on Saint John’s Day at the Reading House.
Participants at Night at the Library organized by Espazo Lectura.
Xerations of Miñoráns passed through the sessions. “The little things we started have been around for about 20 years,” says Peixoto, “and their kids now coordinate adult reading clubs or collaborate to some extent,” he points out.
A documentary in the making
This is the case of Alma Alonso, one of the girls who grew up in the association and who will direct, together with Asun González, the documentary about the trajectory of Espazo Lectura. Filming starts in August.
Among the entity’s long-term projects, there is also: Conto Museuman extension of Casa da Lectura that aims to be a reference in Galicia with spaces for finding around two books to build a “more free, critical and creative” society,
