Let us count all who are called and dedicated to promoting the joy of reading. Let us count ourselves. Teachers at all levels of education, professors at institutes for humanities, librarians, book club mentors, editors of magazines, newspapers, books, and, last but not least, also writers and others who contribute to the creation of books, publishers, illustrators, translators. Basically, an entire army. Clearly, reading is of great importance. In fact, it presents a root-like structure, a mycelium of our social and societal life, our cultural identity, which, going back at least to the cuneiform writing of Mesopotamia, defines us, gives us the joy of living and reading.

Marko Kravos is a Slovene poet, writer, essayist and translator from Trieste. His short stories are known for their imaginary and lyrical elements, humour and Mediterranean sensuality. He has so far published 29 volumes of poetry and 19 books for children. He has received several prestigious awards in Slovenia and Italy, among which the Prešeren Fund Award, the Poetry Gold Medal in Celje, the 2019 Schwentner Prize for his work in publishing and reading culture, the L’Astrolabio d’oro poetry award, the Premio Reggio Calabria, the Scritture di frontiera. His work has been translated into 29 languages. He was President of the Slovene PEN from 1996 to 2000 and is currently President of the Slovenian Reading Badge Society and the Gruppo/Skupina 85 in Trieste.