ATHENS — The smaller, independent bookstores will be celebrated for the second year in Greece on Little Bookstores Day, which falls on September 26, and which this year is dedicated to reading clubs.

With many generations of avid readers having discovered their favorite writer or literary genre in bookcrawls among the once numerous smaller book shops, Little Bookstores Day 2020 takes it a step further: honoring and sharing the pleasure of reading in special clubs small or large, in common readings focusing on writers or genres, dedicated to fiction, memoir, philosophy, science, history, or any other subject matter.

The day will be dedicated to all book clubs, regardless of location, be it in remote places or in the heart of big cities, or even – as is common in recent years – online.

According to the organizers, small bookstores are an integral part of everyday culture and the venues where writers can often present their work and connect with readers, the place where one can discover new, unknown worlds and the safe space where children have the opportunity to feel the thrill of reading, likely to accompany them for life.

On Little Bookstores Day, everyone will have the opportunity to become, even momentarily, a member of a reading club in a small bookstore, gaining a personal experiencing into what some have known and enjoyed for decades and others just learning about now. This year in particular, readers who visit participating bookstores will need to fill out an attendance form for each bookstore they want to visit, to help organisers maintain social distancing as part of the coronavirus preventative measures. The organizers say this will not be a problem, seeing as reading clubs have almost always been a small group affair.

Little Bookstores Day was held for the first time in Greece on April 28, 2018, and is based on an idea that comes from several other countries, of dedicating a day or even a week to celebrate their smaller bookstores. The event is sponsored by almost all of Greece's publishing houses, and one can find out further announcements at #mialesxistamikra, at both Facebook and Instagram.