Skopje, 6 June 2024 (MIA) – The closing conference of the Regional Network for Cultural Diversity (READ) EU-funded project was held Thursday in Skopje. The project aimed to foster five countries - North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia and Turkey – through cultural exchange in the sphere of literature.

The READ project lasted for four years, during which 92 grants were awarded to regional civil organizations, and 13 editions of literary festivals were held, attended by over 450 authors, translators, and activists.

According to the conference organizers, 57 books were translated and promoted as part of the project. Additionally, 39 regional workshops for young people were held, 30 authors had a one-month residency in one of the participating countries, and more than 15,000 people engaged with the "READ on Wheels" project.

The project aims to promote intercultural reading skills and democratic values through reading culture and the handling of supra-regional high-quality literary works.

The Goethe-Institut Skopje reported that the READ project achieved precisely what books typically do – it opened new channels of communication among authors in the region and created new horizons for collaborations and partnerships in the cultural sphere.

EU Ambassador David Geer, German Ambassador Petra Drexler, head of Goethe-Institut Skopje Katrin Ostwald-Richter and project manager Marija Chorbeva-Penovska addressed the READ project closing event.

The project partners' heads, Bujar Luma from Center for Balkan Cooperation- Loja (North Macedonia), Maja Vukovikj-Biserko from Associaition Krokodil (Serbia), Irena Toçi from Albania, and Mehmet Demirtaş from Turkey, as well as Macedonian poet Gjoko Zdraveski, and poetess Radmila Petrovikj from Serbia, participated at the conference.

The project was implemented by Goethe-Institut Skopje together with the partner organizations: Association KROKODIL (Serbia), Center for Balkan Cooperation- Loja (North Macedonia), Instituti i Librit dhe i Promocionit (Albania), Kalem Culture Association (Turkey), and Qendra Multimedia (Kosovo).

Photo: READ project team