Poland's state agency for the promotion of national literature unveiled its balance sheet for the period 2016-2023 in a special report last week.
The Polish Book Institute's key initiatives include the readership promotion campaign, Small Book, Big Man, which has provided 5 million copies of children's books to maternity hospitals, libraries and primary schools across the country since 2017, according to the government in Warsaw.
Abroad, the agency has supplied foreigns edition of Polish books to libraries in America, Britain and Ukraine.
A total of 1,420 Ukrainian libraries received some 30,000 copies of titles by such Polish authors as Henryk Sienkiewicz, Justyna Bednarek and Ryszard Kapuściński, the Polish Book Institute said.
Photo: Polish Book Institute
The agency also funds translations of Polish books into foreign languages.
Between 2016 and 2023, the translations were mostly into English, Spanish, French, Ukrainian, Czech, Chinese, Italian and Croatian, according to officials.
The Polish Book Institute financed the foreign translations of titles by such authors as Stanisław Lem and the Nobel Prize winners Wisława Szymborska and Olga Tokarczuk, among others.
In 2023, the agency supported the translation of 229 books into foreign languages, to the tune of PLN 5 million (EUR 1.1 million).
The Polish Book Institute also promoted national literature at the world's main international book exhibitions, including in London, Taipei and Madrid, officials said.
Source: Polish Book Institute, Books from Poland