RISE Bookselling

“RISE Bookselling – Resilience, Innovation and Sustainability for the Enhancement of Bookselling” aims to make bookselling socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, as well as adaptable to future trends and challenges. A key objective is to strengthen the role of bookshops in promoting literacy and fostering a joy of reading. RISE Bookselling is a project run by the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) and co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

Within this framework, EDUCULT has been commissioned to develop the RISE Reading Promotion Toolkit for bookshops. The Toolkit aims to provide booksellers with practical, hands-on resources to foster reading motivation and literacy, while also identifying policy needs to support the sector more effectively.

The development of the Toolkit is based on a comprehensive research process, including a systematic review of existing literature, reports, and data on reading literacy and reading promotion. Booksellers, reading promotion initiatives and agencies, NGOs, and education partners will contribute their insights through qualitative interviews conducted across 20 selected RISE network member countries.

Research and development activities focus on reading literacy among children aged 9–15, a group identified as critical for promoting and sustaining reading habits, while taking socioeconomic circumstances into account. A gender perspective is applied throughout, with particular attention to boys, who continue to be disproportionately affected, resulting in a persistent gender gap.

Literacy and reading skills play a fundamental role in accessing knowledge and education, enabling social participation, and strengthening democratic resilience by fostering critical thinking, empathy, informed citizenship, and resistance to disinformation and propaganda.

The RISE Reading Promotion Toolkit will combine actionable guidance for bookshops and professionals engaging with young readers with strategic policy recommendations.

It will include four main components:

• A report on literacy, reading skills, and attitudes towards reading among children aged 9–15, drawing on existing literature to identify key findings, trends, and gaps
• A catalogue of actionable best practices, with a particular focus on initiatives that successfully engage boys
• A practical checklist for booksellers with varying levels of experience and differing capacities
• An overview of policy needs and corresponding recommendations