site.btaBook Association Head: Most Meaningful Investment Is in Literacy

The most meaningful investment is in literacy, it has a fourfold return, said here on Friday the chairwoman of the Bulgarian Book Association (BBA), Desislava Alexieva, at the opening of the Alley of the Book.

The largest open-air book exhibition in Bulgaria will last until August 6. It will feature nearly 60 Bulgarian publishers, and readers will have the opportunity to meet and talk with local authors, including Teodora Dimova, Silvia Valentino, Maria Kasimova, Dimitar Kenarov, Ivan Landzhev, Marin Boyadzhiev, Slav Karaslavov and many others.

The main organizer of the Alley is BBA in partnership with Varna Municipality, Festival and Congress Centre and the financial support of the National Culture Fund. 

Writer Teodora Dimova welcomed the guests and thanked the BBA for its initiative to hold such alleys in different Bulgarian cities. "This is a kind of celebration of unification, because BBA unites publishing houses, and the readers and authors," Dimova said. She added that these fairs are one of the few moments of unification in our society and should be especially welcomed and appreciated. The writer expressed her hope that such events will start to take place in every Bulgarian town.

The Alley in Varna is not just an event, but its goal is to bring books to the people, said Desislava Alexieva. According to her, those who do not have access to books in their daily lives, passing by the Alley, might reach for a reading. Alexieva said that if every home becomes a haven of literacy, economic prosperity will be achieved.