Portugal - ACAPO defends the notion “Reading is a democratic act”@ Lisbon and Oporto Book Fairs

Last year, ACAPO made its debut at the Oporto Book Fair, where it raised awareness of the importance of providing access to books to all citizens, whether sighted or visually impaired.

This year ACAPO took up the motto “Reading is a democratic act” and at both Book Fairs (August 25th to September 11th), sold books in accessible formats, fostered reading habits among visually impaired persons, called the attention of publishers and booksellers to the visually impaired population’s lack of access to culture, while networking with authors and exhibitors and promoting its Braille printing services.

During the Fairs, ACAPO organized a debate entitled “The accessible book and the Treaty of Marrakech” in order to know the state of the art of the accessibility of books following ratification of the Marrakech Treaty, which European standards can improve the accessibility of the works that we all want to read, how can we promote the book as a consumer object in a desirable and accessible format, while at the same time protecting the intellectual and industrial rights of authors, publishers and booksellers.

Besides defending access to reading and books, ACAPO also called for the right for visually impaired persons to actively participate as authors and cultural professionals, and in this context has invited their members to sell their own works at these fairs.

This Projet was funded by the “Programa de Financiamento a Projetos pelo INR, I.P.