Almost 150 applications were received for this first call for projects. A shortlist was drawn up by the Foundation team, which was then examined by an internal committee made up of Group employees. They interviewed 14 associations and ultimately chose eight initiatives to support. A fine opportunity to bring together all the energy and skills that exist at Hachette Livre!
“The Fondation Hachette pour la lecture is delighted with the enthusiastic response to this first call for projects, the diversity of the associations that applied and the quality of the projects they presented. This success strengthens our resolve to promote reading to all kinds of people, in every generation. Reading not only provides access to knowledge but open doors. It is essential for personal fulfilment and social inclusion for everyone,” commented Pierre Leroy, CEO of Hachette Livre and President of the Fondation Hachette pour la lecture.
The eight projects selected by the Foundation are:
- “Jeunes en librairie” sponsored by Les Libraires d’en haut and running in Hauts-de-France, which encourages young people to visit an independent bookshop on their own;
- “Numook” sponsored by the Lecture Jeunesse association: young people who have experienced setbacks in learning to read and are isolated from the culture of writing become authors over the course of a school year, by taking part in the collaborative creation of a digital book;
- “Les Petits Champions de la lecture”: a national reading aloud competition for primary school pupils aged 9 to 11, which triggers the “reading instinct” in many children, including previous non-readers;
- The writing workshops run by the Labo des histoires: the democratization of the practice of writing is an important social issue for young people aged under 25 in situations of severe social vulnerability;
- The programs run by Lire pour en Sortir, which aims to support the reintegration of prisoners through reading programs and joint or individual cultural activities that they can do in their cells;
- “Mon sac de livres” sponsored by Bibliothèques Sans Frontières, which offers young exiles arriving in France and attending primary or the first year of secondary school a bag of five books and the opportunity for their classmates to learn more about mutual assistance and solidarity;
- “The ALPHA class” at the Thot school, which helps young exiles and those unable to read and/or write to learn the basics of the French language so that they are able to act independently in social and economic terms;
- “Quais solidaires” sponsored by the Quais du Polar association, which aims to improve access to the festival for people with disabilities and enable them to enjoy a tailor-made experience.
The Fondation Hachette pour la lecture has two main missions:
- Supporting projects that help to prevent illiteracy and combat school dropout, aimed at young children, young people and their families, and which help a wide audience to discover and enjoy reading.
- Supporting projects that use reading as a tool for better social integration and inclusion for people who are excluded or isolated, ranging from people with a disability to prisoners, or those who are unemployed, living in a vulnerable situation or illiterate.
A new call for projects will be issued in early 2023 on the Foundation website: