Jake Hope Delivers Keynote Speech at Portuguese National Reading Conference

The Portuguese National Reading Plan 2017-2027 is a strategy aimed at increasing social integration through reading.  In October, a national conference was held in Lisbon, bringing together over 400 teachers, librarians and cultural champions for reading.  It was a thought-provoking day that explored how young people engage with books and reading and the ways in which teachers, librarians and the cultural sector can support a variety of creative reading initiatives. Polylino’s Children Literature Expert, Jake Hope, was invited to deliver the keynote speech at the conference talking about the way the Yoto Carnegie medals grow readers and develop their confidence, creativity and expressive capabilities through book discussions.  What was particularly notable about the conference was the level of government support the National Reading Plan receives.  The conference was opened by the Minister for Education and closed with a specially recorded message by the President of Portugal discussing his views on the importance of reading and the impact this has upon life chances.

Commenting on the conference, Jake Hope said, “we often speak about building reading cultures locally within and around education settings, to see this happen on a macro scale across a nation was incredibly impressive.”