The aim of the project Our Little Library (OLL) is to promote reading as well as European authors and illustrators who are established at home, but not necessarily in other European countries. Like our partners – the Polish publisher Ezop, the Lithuanian Nieko rimto, the Estonian Päike ja Pilv, the Latvian Liels un Mazs and the Croatian Ibis grafika – we at KUD Sodobnost International found ourselves faced with the problem of how to present our best authors to wider European audiences. In order to disseminate Slovene literature across Slovenia’s borders, we chose the reading project Our Little Library, which has been successfully running in Slovenia for ten years. Each of the six publishers will contribute a couple of its best works for children so that twelve authors and illustrators will be included in the project. The books will be translated into five foreign languages and included in the Creative Workbooks publications, which will be printed in all six languages. The Creative Workbooks will play the main role in motivating school children to read high quality books and in improving their knowledge about Slovenia, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Croatia. Each partner will supplement the project with additional activities.
The aim of the project Our Little Library is to contribute to a better connected literary market and create new opportunities for contacts. We wish to overcome the fragmentation of the European market, which is the result of different languages and the cultural differences between the member states. Greater mobility of authors will contribute to greater knowledge about their works in different European countries, which will create further opportunities for translations into other languages. We would like to include in the project as many children as possible, thus creating firm foundations for the development of reading habits in the future. Our target public are school children. We believe that Creative Workbooks will motivate them to read the top class books included in the project, and at the same time learn about our common European heritage.
