In its 19th season, the Library under the Canopies will take place in 16 locations across Slovenia and abroad.

In Ljubljana, the Library under the krošnja will have eight units, one of which will be specialized on the topic of religions and world religions in the garden of the Muslim Cultural Center and one which, at the invitation of the City of Ljubljana, opens every year during the Junij festival in Ljubljana in Zvezda Park.

The unit will also be new this year on Knežak, which will be managed at the Slavec Farm. In addition to Ljubljana and Knežak, the units of the Library under the canopy will also operate in Jurovske dol, Kropa, Kanal ob Soča, Lendava, Logatac, Novemest, Nova Gorica, Polhov Gradac, Polšnik, Rašica, Ribnica, Radgona, Veliki planina and Peaks.

As stated in the Divja misel institute, many local partner organizations are behind the reading units, which, with the support of local partners and financiers, take care of the implementation in their locality. A diverse group of organizations and individuals at the national level is coordinated by the team of the Divja misel institute with the support of the Public Book Agency of the Republic of Slovenia (Jak). From the very beginning, the library under the canopy has been closely cooperating with Slovenian publishing houses, which donate many current editions every season.

Gaja Naja Rodecwho is leading and coordinating the project at the national level for the fourth year, said at the beginning of this season that this year they are highlighting a refreshed overall image and a new website, which they created with the support of Jak in collaboration with the design studio Kruh and an illustrator Teresa Prepadnik. “This is how we are opening the 19th season of the project, which is well recognized and deeply rooted in many places, with fresh momentum. The significance and popularity of the Knjižnica pod krošnjami and the diversity of our partner network are also evidenced by the two new reading islands that we are establishing this year and which were created at the initiative of new partners,” she added.

The units of the Library under the canopy differ from each other both in terms of scope of operation and content, but mostly they operate throughout the summer and on a weekly basis. In this way, they can be established and come to life as spaces for reading and meetings, where it is possible to visit regularly. And if the lively capital needs quiet corners for reading and daydreaming, reading islands also offer smaller places a place for varied literary events and socializing, according to the website of the Library under the canopies.

Free, but luxury at the same timeIn 2004, the head of the institute Divja Misel came up with the idea of ​​reading outdoors Tina Popovic. From a trial run in Tivoli Park at the weekend during the music festival, the project, on the initiative of the then management of Tourism Ljubljana, was set up on Trnovski beach for the whole summer, and later, first in Ljubljana and then in other places, it grew into a branched network of reading units.

Tina Popovič said before the start of this year’s season of the Library under the canopy: “Reading books is one of the easiest and most interesting activities that we can do for free in our free time. Nevertheless, reading books is also one of the more demanding activities. Finding time and peace and space to read books increasingly seems like a luxury. And this luxury under many canopies in the summer for the 19th year in a row the Library under the Canopies brings you.”