World Book Day: REEPLAI and the future of reading in Europe

23 April 2026 – On World Book Day, celebrating books also means reflecting on the spaces, practices and relationships that keep reading alive today.

In this context, REEPLAI – Readers of Europe Play, Learn and Interact – comes to a close as a concrete example of how reading can be strengthened both as a cultural practice and as a shared experience.

Co-funded by the Creative Europe programme and led by Fondazione Sapegno, together with Fondazione Santagata for the Economics of Culture and partners in Lviv and Óbidos, the project has worked over the past three years on a clear challenge: strengthening reading habits and empowering communities, while addressing the growing reading gap and the gradual loss of cultural diversity.

The results are already visible. Two new Reading Parks, developed from the model of the Reading Park of Morgex, are now active in Lviv and Óbidos. These are open cultural spaces where literature meets play, learning and public life.

The impact of the project goes beyond the creation of these spaces. REEPLAI has contributed to reshaping how reading is experienced: families reading together, children discovering books through participation, and educators experimenting with new approaches that connect literature with community life.

Across different contexts — including those shaped by mobility and temporary displacement — reading has also become a way to build connections, continuity and shared references.

On this World Book Day, REEPLAI leaves a clear legacy: reading remains a powerful tool to foster cultural continuity and create shared spaces, within communities and across Europe.