Dublin Reading Campaign Launched For Children

Dublin City Council has released details of the 2020 book for the Citywide Reading Campaign, an initiative to promote reading for pleasure among children.

Launching in the newly refurbished Coolock library, children are encouraged to read 'Boot' by Shane Hegarty, a story that follows a small robot on a big adventure.

The 2020 reading campaign runs from January to March and there will be author visits to many Dublin City Council branch libraries as well as city-centre based events in bookshops, the National Library of Ireland and Dublin City Gallery on Hugh Lane.

The campaign ends with fun readings and workshops based on the book, as part of the St. Patrick's Festival.

Speaking about the campaign, Mairead Owens, Dublin City Librarian, said: "The Citywide Reading campaign has a simple but important aim – to get children reading for pleasure. This is the ninth year of the campaign, and we hope to see lots of children borrowing a copy of Boot from their local library over the next few months."

Author Shane Hegarty added: "I am thrilled and honoured that Boot has been chosen as the 2020 Citywide Read. Growing up a Dubliner, my local libraries fed my imagination from a very early age, sending me on adventures in space and time every time I walked through their doors. As a writer I see the magic readers still find in libraries. I'm really looking forward to inventing exotic robots, telling tall tales and sharing the adventure with today's young Dubliners."

The campaign is run by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Council Libraries, in partnership with Hachette Childrens Books, and is funded by Dublin City Council's Library Service and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Copies of the book are available in all Dublin City Libraries as well as in all good bookshops.



(JG/CM)