Accessibility and equal possibilities to read and obtain knowledge for all are among the greatest challenges we face today. The national centre for accessible literature and publishing in Finland, Celia, produces and distributes books in accessible formats in cooperation with libraries and publishers. Annually, Celia produces about 2,000 titles, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as school and course literature. The Celia library offers around 40,000 talking books in several languages.
Bokpil works for accessibility by publishing Easy to Read paper books and e-books and distributing information about Easy literature. Bokpil cooperates also with other organizations and institutions to support accessibility, learning and reading. Easy to Read books are already available for different groups of readers, but talking and braille books make them accessible for many more users.
Two of Bokpil’s books, The heart of the cook (Sabira Ståhlberg, 2018) and Dog and sofa (Marianne Ståhlberg, 2019) were recently published in Swedish as talking and braille books (see links in news item in Swedish). They are available free of charge for users at the Celia library. All who have difficulties to read, due to an illness, functional disability etc. can become users. The Celia website informs how.
Photograph from Dog and sofa, braille book: © Celia 2020
The project LäsLätt (‘ReadEasy’) 2020 for increasing and distributing information about Easy to Read is realised by Bokpil and Colorit ry.rf. and supported by The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.
