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That is probably the biggest book that has ever been seen in Poland. The giant weights almost half a tonne and is almost two metres long. However, it only has twelve pages. There is a QR-code placed on each of them that enables to download free e-books. It is another part of the reading action Czytaj PL (Read PL) which breaks its own record – so far 50 thousand free e-books have been rented. The action will be held until the end of November.
On 15th November, half way through the Czytaj PL project, the organizers have prepared an extraordinary surprise. There is an enormous, about 2-meter long installation in a characteristic yellow colour, associated with the action, placed in the Krakow Main Market Square. It imitates an open book with moving pages turned by the passers-by. Each of the 12 pages is devoted to one of the e-books available as part of the Czytaj PL action this year. The additional objective of the installation is to encourage all those people who had not yet heard about the action to take part in it.
Czytaj PL action has been running since 2nd of November. At half-way point, it breaks the last year’s record: so far the readers have borrowed 50 thousand of books, have sent 7 thousand invitations to their friends and have visited czytaj.pl webpage one hundred thousand times. The action includes almost 500 cities and towns. Free e-book rentals have been available on over 7 thousand devices. QR-codes for 12 bestselling books, including five absolute novelties of 2017 have been made available. Ten foreign cities, among others: Barcelona, Dublin, Lviv, Norwich, Nottingham, Prague, and Reykjavik – UNESCO Cities of Literature, have been taking part in the action for the first time. Last year’s edition encouraged thousands of people to read. This year even more will be involved.
From its inception, Czytaj PL action has been organized as part of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature Programme by Krakow Festival Office and e-book platform Woblink.com. This year the action is also available at 1000 high schools all around the country as part of the “Upoluj swoją książkę” (Hunt your own book) Programme, organized on the initiative of the Book Institute.
The list of books available:
1. Wojciech Drewniak Historia bez cenzury 2 (History Uncensored 2)
2. Krzysztof Piskorski Czterdzieści i cztery (Forty and four)
3. Gregory David Roberts Shantaram
4. Filip Springer Miasto Archipelag. Polska mniejszych miast (Archipelago City. Poland of Lesser Towns)
5. Anna Kamińska Wanda
6. Jakub Małecki Ślady (Tracks)
7. Dan Ariely The Honest) Truth About Dishonesty
8. Elżbieta Cherezińska Korona śniegu i krwi (Crown of Snow and Blood)
9. Camilla Lackberg The Ice Princess
10. Peter Wohlleben The Hidden Life of Trees
11. Jon Ronson So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
12. Marek Kamiński Marek i czaszka jaguara (Marek and the Jaguar’s Skull)
Organisers of Read PL: Krakow Festival Office, Woblink
Strategic Partner: Polish Book Institute
Organisers of the initiative in schools (Hunt your own book): Polish Book Institute, Krakow Festival Office, Woblink
Publishers: Znak Horyzont, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Wydawnictwo Marginesy, Wydawnictwo Karakter, SQN, Smak Słowa, Zysk, Wydawnictwo Czarna Owca, Otwarte, Insignis Media, Znak Emotikon
Partner cities: Kraków, Poznań, Łódź, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Toruń, Częstochowa, Opole, Gdynia, Rzeszów
Other cities taking part: Warszawa, Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Bytom, Chorzów, Mysłowice, Rybnik, Sosnowiec, Szczecin, Tychy
UNESCO Cities of Literature participating: Barcelona, Dublin, Dundee, Dunedin, Edinburgh, Lviv, Norwich, Nottingham, Prague, Reykjavik
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and Cultural Heritage as part of the National Programme for the Promotion of Reading. The initiative is organised under the patronage of Ministry of National Education.
Czytaj PL posters are not available in your town? They are only situated in not easily accessible (places (high school whose entrance is guarded by a formidable janitor accompanied by a group of students on duty)? We have decided to listen to your requests and as in the previous year, share posters enabling you to join the action on the Internet. However, to get them, you need to make a very special promise…
I, a lover of books and reading, will shortly download a free poster with a QR-code which will give me an access to 12 complete e-bestsellers for free. At the same time, I hereby promise that I shall print the poster and hang it in a conspicuous place so as the others could use it freely, giving me the satisfaction of infecting the others with reading.
Every person that agrees to make such a promise, can download the poster available in four different formats. Furthermore, people who had downloaded the poster may take part in a competition “Książka za obietnicę” (“A book for a promise”) and win a PocketbookAqua2 e-book reader together with e-books voucher for the Woblink bookshop. All you have to do is to send a photo and the location of the poster hanged, through a form available on THIS WEBSITE.
The posters added to the form will also be marked on the map of this year’s action. Last year, thanks to the commitments from web users who kept their promises, the action reached additional 120 cities and towns, 4 countries, as well as another continent (Australia)!
The organizers of the Czytaj PL action consequently bet on the enthusiasm and involvement of the readers themselves in promoting the action. Since the beginning of November, thousand of high school students all around the country have proudly been wearing t-shirts with QR-codes that enable to download e-books and audiobooks on their smartphones.
First points marking posters hanged by the readers themselves (color-coded purple) can already be found on this year’s map.
Take advantage of our action, devote yourself to reading and if you like what we do and like the Woblink application, then remember to rate it 5 stars. It is really helpful in preparing new surprises for you!
[Source: www.czytajpl.pl]
As usual, the Kino pod Baranami cinema, which has been a friend to the Festival, prepared a special film review. Come and watch six showings related to the programme of the largest literary event this autumn, from Monday (23 October) to Saturday (28 October).
These will be no ordinary screenings – a Festival guest will introduce the audience into the atmosphere of each film.
We start on Monday (23 October) at 21.30 with the film Beksińscy. Album wideofoniczny(Beksińscy. Audiovideo album) – a shocking documentary drama meticulously reconstructed from private audio, film and photographic materials of the Beksiński family archives that had not been made public in such a form before. The script is based on the bestselling biography by Magdalena Grzebałkowska, Beksińscy. Portret podwójny (published by Znak). Introduction will be held by director Marcin Borchardt.
A truly big event awaits us a day later (Tuesday 24 October at 21.30): a screening of the Polish Oscar candidate Pokot (Spoor) directed by Agnieszka Holland with none other than Olga Tokarczuk introducing the audience into the climate of the film.
The Wednesday evening (25 October) is a gesture towards the fans of Siri Hustvedt’s writings. At 21.30, the writer will open a screening of the film Of Woman and Magic directed by Claude Miller, based on her novel The Blindfold. Claire Weygand, a thirty-year-old woman who is about to defend her anthropology thesis, unfortunately not only feels bad but even worse and worse with each passing day. The migraine attacks she suffers from keep her from working as hard as she should and in despair she decides to consult Doctor Fish. When the medicine the physician prescribes for her fails, Claire, who cannot take it anymore, asks him to hospitalize her. In hospital, Claire shares her room with Odette, a young woman who has lost the use of her legs and Eléonore, a frightening old woman.
On Thursday (26 October at 21.30) the Kino pod Baranami cinema will screen The Da Vinci Codedirected by Ron Howard – adaptation of the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. The writer will meet his readers two hours earlier that day. Will you find the time to go to cinema? Anything can happen.
On Friday (27 October at 21.30) – the multiple award winning Raoul Peck’s film I Am Not Your Negro. In 1979, the African American novelist and essayist James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project – Remember This House. The book was to be an account of the lives and assassinations of three of his friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. The book had remained unfinished by the time of Baldwin’s death in 1987. He left behind only 30 completed pages. The writer’s heirs entrusted the manuscript to filmmaker Raoul Peck, who decided to finalise the story outlined in Baldwin’s book and created a film journey through the history of African Americans, revolving around the writer’s verse. He delved into the complex heritage of life and death of the three eminent figures in the American antiracist movement who changed the US social and political landscape forever. The introductory speech will be held by Jean-Ulrick Désert – artist participating in A New Region of the World exhibition presented in the Bunkier Sztuki Gallery and related to the Conrad Festival programme.
The finale of the film review cycle (Saturday 28 October at 14.00) will feature Ezer Kenegdodirected by Deniz Demirer and Daniel Kremer. Yisroel “Izzy” Jonigkeyt, a Chassidic Jew from Crown Heights in New York, travels to San Francisco to visit Polish-born Catholic friend Marek Wiśniewski with the intent of discovering why a famous iconoclast named Harry Kierk, of whom they are both fans, seeks to destroy his own works. Their only gateway to contact Kierk is Marek’s anti-Semitic cousin. Frictions develop as the visit progresses, when Izzy and Marek discover for the first time that their different backgrounds and complex historical baggage impinge on their friendship and, soon, they begin to understand why Kierk is driven towards destruction. NOTE: a meeting with the makers of the film will be held after the screening.
Tickets priced at PLN 18 (normal) and PLN 14 (discount) are on sale.
On November 2nd, 7 000 e-book lending posters and other sources will appear all around Poland and the world. We’ll find them at bus stops, restaurants, schools, community centres and more. Read PL is one of the largest initiatives in the world that promotes reading in such a fashion, and the only such project in Poland that has taken over nearly 500 cities and towns in the country. This year’s edition will reach a record number of readers in Poland, as well as abroad. Among the bestsellers that one can borrow, we’ll find The Secret Life of Trees and Shantaram.
Read PL (www.czytajPL.pl), unique in its scope and scale, is an initiative that will expand its reach to record breaking numbers. It will take place in 30 cities as well as 450 towns where schools have joined the project. Over 7000 posters and e-lending tools will allow for the free rental of e-books and audiobooks. QR codes corresponding to 12 bestsellers, including 5 totally new publications in 2017, will give readers this access. For the first time, 10 international cities will take part in the initiative, including Barcelona, Dublin, Dunedin, Dundee, Edinburgh, Lviv, Norwich, Nottingham, Prague, Reykjavik. All this is possible thanks to one QR code and one special applications. This project is organised for the 5th time by the Krakow Festival Office, operator of the Krakow UNESCO City of Literature Programme as well as the e-book platform Woblink.com.
Among the bestsellers, everyone will find something for his/herself. For those who enjoy crime fiction, Camille Läckberg’s The Ice Princess, translated to over 40 languages in 60 countries will be available. Adventure lovers will enjoy reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, which presents the legendary story of a bank robber hiding in India. Peter Wohlleben’s book Secret Life of Trees will unveil to us the incredible things that take place in forests. The Januasz Zajdel Award winner Forty and four by Krzysztof Piskorski, Archipelago City by Filip Springer, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson and Elżbieta Cherezińska’s Crown of Blood and Snow are also among those to be found.
On the initiative of the Polish Book Institute, as many as 1000 secondary schools from all over the country have signed up to participate in a pilot campaign called “Hunt your own book” that will allow students to borrow a book during breaks between classes. Just a smartphone and the Woblink application are necessary. Pupils also will have an opportunity to take part in contests with attractive prizes. But that’s not all. In 200 restaurants, guests will be able to rent a book without leaving the table, thanks to a specially prepared menu as part of “Read PL as an appetizer”.
To get the e-books and audiobooks, you need to download Woblink from the App Store or Google Play and go to the Read PL page. Just one code is necessary. You can invite up to 5 friends to join the fun and get access to the collection. Read PL will take place from November 2 to 30. Locate where there is a poster near you using the online map: www.czytajPL.pl
List of available books [available only in Polish]:
1. Wojciech Drewniak Historia bez cenzury 2 | History uncensored 2
2. Krzysztof Piskorski Czterdzieści i cztery | Forty and four
3. Gregory David Roberts Shantaram
4. Filip Springer Miasto Archipelag. Polska mniejszych miast | Archipelago City
5. Anna Kamińska Wanda
6. Jakub Małecki Ślady | Tracks
7. Dan Ariely Szczera prawda o nieuczciwości | The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty
8. Elżbieta Cherezińska Korona śniegu i krwi | Crown of Snow and Blood
9. Camilla Lackberg Księżniczka z lodu |The Ice Princess
10. Peter Wohlleben Sekretne życie drzew | The Secret Life of Trees
11. Jon Ronson #WstydźSię! | So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
12. Marek Kamiński Marek i czaszka jaguara | Marek and the jaguar’s skull
Organisers of Read PL: Krakow Festival Office, Woblink
Strategic Partner: Polish Book Institute
Organisers of the initiative in schools (Hunt your own book): Polish Book Institute, Krakow Festival Office, Woblink
Publishers: Znak Horyzont, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Wydawnictwo Marginesy, Wydawnictwo Karakter, SQN, Smak Słowa, Zysk, Wydawnictwo Czarna Owca, Otwarte, Insignis Media, Znak Emotikon
Partner cities: Kraków, Poznań, Łódź, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Toruń, Częstochowa, Opole, Gdynia, Rzeszów
Other cities taking part: Warszawa, Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Bytom, Chorzów, Mysłowice, Rybnik, Sosnowiec, Szczecin, Tychy
UNESCO Cities of Literature participating: Barcelona, Dublin, Dundee, Dunedin, Edinburgh, Lviv, Norwich, Nottingham, Prague, Reykjavik
Co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and Cultural Heritage as part of the National Programme for the Promotion of Reading. The initiative is organised under the patronage of Ministry of National Education.
In 2013, Krakow joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, having been given the title of the City of Literature. A few days ago, the network was enlarged by 64 new cities! Each of them specializes in one of the seven creative domains: literature, music, film, visual arts, craft and folk art, and gastronomy.
There is one representative from Poland among them – Łódź, which is now UNESCO City of Film and the third creative city in Poland! In turn, the list of the Cities of Literature was augmented with Utrecht (the Netherlands), Québec City (Canada), Seattle (USA), Manchester (Great Britain), Milan (Italy), Lillehammer (Norway), Durban (RSA), and Bucheon (South Korea).
Congratulations!
Creative Cities Network is a UNESCO Programme established in 2004, aimed at promoting the practice of cooperation between the cities and regions which base their development on different aspects of creative economy. UNESCO grants the Creative City title in seven domains: literature, music, film, visual arts, craft and folk art, and gastronomy. The main mission of the Network is to build an international partnership in order to support the creative sector and promote creativity understood as a factor of sustainable development. Currently, the Network associates 180 cities from 72 countries.