Croatia
Croatian Reading Association
The Croatian Reading Association is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit and voluntary association whose mission is to encourage, research and promote reading and literacy. The CroRA has approximately 375 members who are mostly librarians, teachers, university professors, pedagogues, special education teachers, psychologists, writers, students, publishers, etc. It organizes different activities for the celebration of the International Literacy Day: the contest Smile… while reading! for the best photography of a reading person, and a conference for librarians, teachers, pediatricians, preschool teachers, parents and educators to raise awareness about the importance of literacy.
AWARD FOR INNOVATIVE LITERACY PROMOTION IN EUROPE
- Bibliotherapy for war trauma (2001)
- Prison reading program (2017)
Publications: The Association’s magazine Hamster (Hrčak) and electronic newsletter
Executive Board
- President: Ksenija Banović
- First Vice President: Karolina Zlatar Radigović
- Second Vice President: Jasmina Hren Knežević
- FELA representative: Margareta Matijević Kunst
Website: http://www.hcd.hr
Recent activities:
- CroRa in partnership with another 4 partners was part of a project Our Street Books funded by the European Social Fund till May 2020.
- Snježana Berak and Kristina Čunović finished the Croatian Prison Reading Program for Detainees and their Children, which successfully lasted for three years.
- Celebrated The International Children’s Book Day online.
- Continue our National Campaign “Read to me!” by reading picture books and performing several puppets shows on video films.
- Conference Reading Culture of Young People: encouriging reading and literacy in teenagers in the era of digital content was held in cooperation with Croatian Library for the Blind, City Library “Ivan Goran Kovačić” Karlovac, and Školska knjiga Croatia’s leading publisher (September 6, 2024)
- The 19th Photo contest Smile… while reading! for the best photography of a reading person
Upcoming events:
- Publication of “Hamster”, the magazine published by the association (to be thematically related to the conference);
- As a part of a national event Croatian Book Month, CroRa is organizing a virtual reading marathon a “Minute for reading“. The purpose of this marathon is to popularize reading through reading for pleasure.
- Continue our National Campaign “Read to me!” to promote reading to children from early age.