Esposende: Manuel de Boaventura Library marks International Children’s Book Day

To celebrate International Children’s Book Day, April 2, the Manuel de Boaventura Municipal Library will promote an exhibition of children’s literature and two cinema sessions. This celebration has been taking place since 1967, the year in which April 2nd was chosen because it was the birth anniversary of Hans Christian Anderson, a renowned children’s writer, and aims to draw attention to the importance of reading and books in childhood.

To mark this date, the Manuel de Boaventura Municipal Library will present in an exhibition, not only the work of the Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson but, at the same time, it will promote contemporary children’s literature, by Portuguese and foreign authors. Among contemporary Portuguese authors, highlights include Isabel Minhós Martins, António Mota, Clara Cunha, Alice Vieira and Rita Sineiro, among others.

To publicize Hans Christian Anderson’s work, the Municipal Library also proposes two cinema sessions in the library’s auditorium, when the film “The Little Mermaid”, inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s story with the same title, will be shown. “The Little Mermaid” is a fairy tale written by the Danish author, first published in 1837.

The first screening will take place at 10 am and the second session will take place at 3 pm. Registration must be made by appointment via email

To mark this day, the General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries made available a digital poster, written by illustrator Inês Viegas Oliveira, winner of the National Illustration Prize in 2023. The poster conveys the idea that has been underlying this day over the years: that books contain all the stories and all the characters that make us dream and travel.

This action converges with the goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN 2030 Agenda.