Reading will be celebrated throughout France this Tuesday, March 10th. The National Book Centre (CNL) is organizing the fifth edition of the National Reading Quarter Hour, an initiative that invites everyone to dedicate at least fifteen minutes of their day to opening a book.
According to franceinfo, nearly 800 events are planned across the country to support this mobilization. The campaign encourages citizens, regardless of their relationship with books—regular readers, occasional readers, or non-readers—to take some time to read and put away their screens.
An initiative to put reading back at the heart of everyday life
The aim of this day is simple: to remind everyone that reading can easily find its place in a busy schedule. The National Book Centre invites participants to read alone or in groups, in a school, association, company, or government office.
Since 2019, the Ministry of National Education has also generalized a quarter of an hour of daily reading in schools, a practice which is in line with the spirit of this national operation.
Hundreds of events all over France
Local initiatives are being organized in numerous settings: libraries, bookstores, community centers, and even retirement homes. Reading clubs and associations also offer opportunities for reading aloud or gatherings centered around books.
This year, the event is sponsored by several personalities from the cultural world, including the authors Leïla Slimani, Aurélie Valognes and Agnès Ledig, as well as the cartoonist Julien Neel.
A context marked by a decline in reading
The operation comes at a worrying time for reading habits. According to a study cited by franceinfo, young people aged 7 to 19 read an average of 19 minutes a day, compared to more than three hours spent on screens.
Furthermore, approximately 20% of young people do not read at all, a proportion that rises to 38% among 16-19 year olds.
By inviting the French to "turn off their mobile phones to open a book," the organizers hope to remind them that a few minutes of reading can be enough to escape, reflect, or simply take a step back from a daily life often saturated with screens.
