Book industry organisations in Brazil and Portugal have now submitted lists of Lusophone books to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Book Club.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Book Club was launched at Bologna International Children’s Book Fair in 2019 and aims to use books as a tool to encourage children ages 6-12 to interact with the principles of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a curated reading list of books from around the world related to each of the 17 SDGs in all six official UN languages—Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
The founding partners of the Portuguese language book club are the Portuguese Publishers Association, the Brazilian Book Chamber, the Brazilian Libraries Federation, the Brazilian section of the International Board of Books for Young People, and the General-Directorate for Book, Archives, and Libraries.
The Portuguese language club follows the launches of the Global SDG Book Club in 2018 and subsequent clubs in Norway, Indonesia, and Africa. The world’s publishing community through the International Publishers Association supports the SDGs as an investment in future generations of leaders, innovators, and agents of change.
Vitor Tavares, President of the Brazilian Book Chamber, said: “The book is an essential source of ideas for human development and all aspects that make us live in harmony with the planet. Encouraging the reading of books that address issues such as equality and sustainability is like planting a seed of transformation in the world. The Portuguese Language SDG Book Club is a great initiative in this regard. When children grow up in contact with these learnings, they will certainly have present and future habits that value each of the goals proposed by the UN, and that can transform the world for the better.”