ORIGINALITY AND SELF-CONFIDENCE IN BOOKS
The 6th Day of Slovenian Books

Ljubljana, 17 April 2001



At the Slovenian book festival, traditionally taking place on the streets of Ljubljana, President Milan Kucan, who attends the festival every year, pointed out the encouraging fact that Slovenians are at the very top in Europe in terms of book titles published per year. “Slovenians continue reading in the age of computers and information technology. We publish 1811 titles per million inhabitants each year. In comparison, Denmark publishes 2400, the UK 1625. Each of us reads more than three books per year. We each buy more than 7 books every year,” stated the President, adding that this data are both encouraging and worrying. Worrying because Slovenians' functional literacy – which to a high extent depends on reading habits and access to books that allow for this habit to be maintained – is quite low.

Due to the special significance that books have in the history of establishing the Slovenian nation, due to its role in shaping Slovenians' modern spiritual image as well as completing and maintaining the identity of the Slovenian nation, books cannot and will not be merely marketable goods in the President's view. “Books are a part of our lives, a part of being a Slovene, they are part of our originality and self-confidence. Now that we are at the threshold of the European Union, a time has come forcing to very precisely rethink what a book is to a nation that is soon to become a resident in the ever-larger house of Europe, a nation that will want equality and recognition in this house without simply consenting to house rules set by others. The state is first in line to initiate common thought on the fate of books in this perspective,” President Kucan also added.




Photo: BOBO


Photo: BOBO


Photo: BOBO


Photo: BOBO


Photo: BOBO


Photo: BOBO


Photo: BOBO


Photo: BOBO