About the past Book Giving Festival

International Book Day in 2026 is celebrated, as every year, on February 14. On this day, book lovers around the world congratulate each other, donate and donate books to charity, and hold various flash mobs and events aimed at increasing interest in reading.

This holiday appeared relatively recently: it was first celebrated in 2012. The idea of ​​such a tradition was born by the English writer Emma Perry, who later took on the role of organizer and coordinator of Book Giving Day.

According to a joint study by the analytical center NAFI and the publishing group "Eksmo-AST", most Russian residents have a positive attitude towards books as gifts. Thus, 57% of respondents like to receive books as a gift. Moreover, 78% of Russians have given a book as a gift at least once in their lives. Every third person did this once or twice, and every fifth person gave books more than five times. Interestingly, more than half of the respondents want to receive an invitation to a meeting with a writer as a gift. The study also found that the share of those who like to both give books and receive them as gifts was 44%. These are mainly women, young people under 24 years of age and people with higher education.

From February 13 to 14, the Book Giving Day holiday was held in the NSU library. Our readers share their impressions of the holiday.