Read for Humanity: Expo 2027 Playground Becomes the Reading Hub for the Common Good
At the Expo 2027 Playground (Hall 5, Belgrade Fair), starting from Sunday, 26 October, a series of events will take place within the Read for Humanity national campaign, officially launched today by Expo 2027 d.o.o. Belgrade.
Inspired by the Belgrade Book Fair and the idea that reading changes both people and the world, the campaign reminds us that reading is one of the foundations of social development and invites citizens to contribute to the common good through personal example, since every 27 hours spent reading will result in one tree that will be planted in the future Expo Park, a lasting legacy of the Expo 2027 Belgrade.
The Belgrade Fair, as a long-standing guardian of the reading culture, has joined the campaign and, as part of the Read for Humanity initiative, is gifting 100 tickets for the Book Fair to all book lovers as a token of support for the mission that promotes knowledge, creativity, and togetherness.
The Read for Humanity campaign presents to Serbia and the world a new idea of the crucial social importance of reading printed books in the digital world, placing a globally relevant question at the centre of public attention: are we ready to invest more effort than before so that reading may survive and continue to build our habits of perseverance and determination in the era of the fast and powerful digital world, where, without reading, our attention span is reduced to a single minute?
By the end of the Belgrade Book Fair on 2 November, the Expo 2027 Playground will be the hub of literature, dialogue, and imagination. The Read for Humanity campaign will bring together prominent writers, intellectuals, artists, and professors who will revive the spirit of a culture of shared knowledge through readings, lectures, and discussions.
On Sunday, 26 October, the book Geronimo Stilton. Let’s Discover Italy! A Hundred Wonders by Elisabetta Dami, published by the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade, will be presented, while Prof. Dr Adriaan van der Weel will give a lecture on the lasting significance of reading, especially printed books, as one of the deepest ways of understanding the world around us.
On Monday, 27 October, Dr Adam Sofronijević, Prof. Dr Adrian van der Vel, and Jeff Uboa will raise the question of the value of time spent with a book in a discussion aiming to explain how reading shapes an individual and what we, as a community, gain when we invest time in it.
On Tuesday, 28 October, visitors will be able to attend a presentation of the monumental book China Illustrata by Athanasius Kircher – one of the most significant European works of the 17th century about China – followed by a discussion featuring Prof. Dr Paolo Sabatini, Dr Adam Sofronijević, and Miljko Živojinović.
The book by the renowned Serbian philanthropist and benefactor Milomir Glavčić, A Thorn in the Foot on a Long Road, will be promoted on Wednesday, 29 October, with the participation of Dr Nebojša Kuzmanović and journalist Miša Dugalić, while Thursday, 30 October, will be dedicated to children, when the work The Golden Book of Slovak Fairy Tales, published by the Archives of Vojvodina, will be presented. On the final day of the Read for Humanity campaign, 2 November, a presentation devoted to the illuminations of the Miroslav Gospel will be held at the Expo 2027 Playground.
In addition to the official programme, guided tours of the exhibition of digitised old and rare books will be organised every day until 2 November (except Sunday). For the first time, the Serbian public will be able to see original editions of true bibliophile treasures, such as the first Serbian translation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin from 1853, History of Byzantium by Prof. Dragutin Atanasijević, as well as the first photo-monograph of Serbia and works that revealed the Balkans to Europe. Readers who take part in the Read for Humanity campaign will also be able to read valuable works from the personal libraries of great figures of Serbian culture and science in the reading room at the Expo 2027 Playground: from Mihailo Petrović Alas and Pavle Vuisić to Ružica Sokić, Feliks Pašić, and Donka Špiček.
The reading room within the national Read for Humanity campaign is open to the public every day until 2 November at the Expo 2027 Playground, from 12 PM to 8 PM. The entrance is free.