For Giving Tuesday this year, Global Libraries Bulgaria Foundation worked with prison libraries across Bulgaria to develop reading habits and the love of reading among the incarcerated population. The prisons in Sliven, Pazardzhik and Sofia and prison hostels in Kremikovtsi and Kazichene joined as partners.
The initiative was coordinated with the BCause Foundation and supported by Paysafe, Accenture and the New Bulgarian University, whose employees collected a total of 402 books. Individual users at the Reading Room in Sofia donated a further 200 books. Global Libraries Bulgaria Foundation also donated books by Bulgarian authors and campaign ambassadors Zdravka Evtimova, Deyan Enev and Zahari Karabasliev, bringing the full total to over 650.
As part of this year’s Reading Day campaign, the authors above visited Kremikovtzi Prison Hostel, Kazechene Prison Hostel and Sofia Central Prison, to meet with inmates, perform readings and lead discussions on literature. Zdravka Evtimova had also led a similar session in Sliven Prison earlier in the year. These meetings, organised by the Global Libraries Bulgaria Foundation, met with an overwhelmingly positive response, with both authors and inmates expressing a willingness to meet again next year.
Gergana Hrischeva, journalist at Bulgarian National Radio, spoke with some of the main figures in the campaign. Read and listen to her reports here (in Bulgarian).