Succesful First Reading Festival Aruba
Biblionef Netherlands, Biblionef Aruba, the Biblioteca Nacional Aruba, the Instituto Pedagogico Arubano, and the Departamento di Enseñansa Aruba are proud to announce the succesful completion of the first Reading Festival Aruba. The two-day festival focused on the joy of reading and took place on Friday, February 27th and Saturday, February 28th 2026. More than 1500 children participated in the Reading Festival activities!
Special Program for Ciclo Basico 1
On Friday, February 27th, students from 13 secondary schools participated in reading promotion activities. The special program for ciclo basico students was organised at three schools: EPB HATO, Colegio Arubano and the Filomena College MAVO. Children took part in inspiring sessions with authors such as Ralph Cantave and Sharlon Willems, workshops organised by the Biblioteca Nacional Aruba (such as Lord of the Fries Bookish Café) and Soundscape Storytelling and book tasting arranged by students of the Insituto Pedagogico.
Valerie Figaroa of BNA said that it was wonderful and surprising to see which books and which book genres found the most appealing during the Lord of the Fries Bookish Café. She thought that it was very worthwhile and inspiring to work with the students in this way.
Reading Festival for the Children of Aruba
On Saturday February 28, children of all ages and their families were welcome at the Filomena Collega in San Nicolas to attend the festival with workshops by authors, activities organised by students from IPA and staff from BNA, games, music and performances. Organisations such as FAVI, FEPOH, the National Archives of Aruba and Intangible Cultural Heritage Aruba also provided educational workshops for the participants.
Book donations and prizes
All festival visitors received a wonderful new book! In addition, participants also had the chance to win lovely prizes: educational games and materials. These gifts were distributed by Biblionef Aruba in the days following the festival. More than 1,500 children were able to enjoy the activities of the Reading Festival Aruba and were inspired to read more, visit the library more often, and experience that reading is just great fun! For the organisers, it was wonderful to see so many happy faces. We are very much looking forward to the next edition of the Reading Festival Aruba.
Thanks to all contributors
The Reading Festival Aruba was made possible thanks to the support of the Dutch Foundation for Literature. We also thank all local sponsors and partners in Aruba, the schools that hosted the festival activities and of course the many enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers.
More Information
E-mail: info@biblionef.org
Website: www.readingfestivals.com
Facebook en Instagram: @readingfestivals
