The Book 2.0 initiative, promoted by the Portuguese Association of Editors and Booksellers (APEL), will take place in Museu do Oriente, in Lisbon on 5 and 6 September. Following the theme “#TheFutureOfReading, Book 2.0 aims to place at the centre of the debate the main challenges that books and reading face, pointing out ways to overcome them, through the voices of today's great national and international writers and thinkers.”, as mentioned in a press release sent to The Portugal News.

During the opening of Book 2.0, APEL “will present the results of another study on book purchasing habits in Portugal”, a study that also focused on Portuguese reading habits. Nguyen Phan Que Mai, an author from Vietnam “will address ‘The Power of Books”, and Vanessa Portilla, COO of the World Literacy Foundation, will develop the topic “Changing Lives Through Literacy.”

The schedule is divided into chapters, the first one being called “The Future of Publishing in the Digital Age”, where people will reflect on the human condition in a digital age, like the one we are living in, with talks hosted by Jeneva Rose, a North American author, and the Armenian author Narine Abgaryan.

In the second chapter “From Ecological Footprint to Rethinking Diversity”, Rachel Martin, from The Netherlands, Director of Global Sustainability at Elsevier, “will present the first recommendations of the 'Carbon Footprint Whitepaper', which is the result of a study measuring the carbon footprint of the publishing industry in Portugal.” The idea for the study emerged during the 2023 edition of Book 2.0. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Portuguese President of the Republic, will close the first day of Book 2.0, with a speech, after the interview with Margarida Balseiro Lopes, minister of Youth and Modernization of Portugal.

The second day of the event starts with the third chapter “Education as a Gateway to Unleash Human Potential”, with the presence of people not only linked to health and business, such as Galit Atlas and Ricardo Costa, CEO of Bernardo da Costa. The Portuguese journalist José Rodrigues dos Santos will also be present, virtually, while Isabel Machado and Luis Zueco “will address the topic ‘Education seen through the eyes of History’.”

Book 2.0 will close with “Commitments for the Future”, where various institutional speakers will have the opportunity to share their ideas. The closing ceremony will count on the presence of Paulo Rangel, the minister of State and Foreign Affairs of Portugal.

More information about the event may be found on https://book.apel.pt/en/homepage/

Author

Deeply in love with music and with a guilty pleasure in criminal cases, Bruno G. Santos decided to study Journalism and Communication, hoping to combine both passions into writing. The journalist is also a passionate traveller who likes to write about other cultures and discover the various hidden gems from Portugal and the world. Press card: 8463. 

Bruno G. Santos