The goal of the Reading Garden was to make as many people read as possible – even those who had hardly done it – by September 2009.  At weekends there were about 250 visitors at each site, so by the end of summer we had close to 4,000 visitors. Although the Reading Grove closed for this year, in 2010 we look forward to meeting the readers in Pécs, European Capital of Culture and other premises of ours. 

The objective of the series of events Year of Hungarian Language is to prove how much Hungarian language can shape culture as well as to point out the need and inevitability of social and cultural modernization. Mother tongue is the basic element of Hungarian identity. The program also presents the culture of different social groups (minorities) joined by Hungarian language. Another issue is the role of Hungarian language what arts, science and scientific thinking is concerned.
Reading is part of our lives: we read at work, in the street, while traveling or relaxing. We look for information, we long for adventures, and we create a virtual world by reading. We read texts, labels, instructions, newspapers, books, and thousands of other written things. Reading is work and rest, entertainment and learning. There is so much more to say about reading, but basically it is one of the most essential parts of language. Creating a written text – official document or literary piece – is a serious intellectual job. However, we do not read texts only, as language does not appear in texts, either: there are signs, symbols, and “pictures” to be read…

There are thousands of possibilities to read, because reading has thousands of faces.

Reading Garden, the series of programs of the Year of Hungarian Language has shown us some of these thousand faces.

Our aim was to have as many people as possible read by 1st September 2009. It was not the audience taken to the libraries, but the books were taken to public places, cafés, parks, and streets. This way the community experience of a basically individual activity like reading is also intensified by the choice of the scene, the readings, and listening to the texts.

In summer 2009 there were two Reading Grardens in Budapest. At weekends those interested will find books, magazines, beanbag chairs and readings in Margaret Island and in Holdudvar. Rural spots for those eager to read: Balatonalmádi, Szigliget, Szentendre, Dunakeszi, Vigántpetend, and Pécs.
Date: between 20th June 2009 – 12 September 2009, at weekends
Reading Grove cooperated with “Lose a Book” movement and Litera.