Long-term and impactful development: The Finnish Reading Center’s literacy work reaches millions of Finns each year
Author visits, the cornerstone of the Finnish Reading Center’s activities, have remained strong for over 50 years. Last year, nearly 75,000 readers met an author through visits organized by the Finnish Reading Center. These visits are arranged nationwide across Finland.
The youth literary media platform Lukufiilis is also one of the Finnish Reading Center’s longest-running initiatives: produced by young people themselves, it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025. The online literary criticism magazine Kiiltomato.net has been published for 25 years. In addition to providing vibrant and timely literary criticism, it contains a valuable archive of reviews from a quarter of a century. The nationwide Reading Week, a theme week for reading and literacy, has been celebrated every April for nearly 30 years.
The Finnish Reading Center coordinates several projects that have been running for over a decade: Words Matter, Read Aloud, and An Author for Every School are all long-term initiatives launched more than 10 years ago. A Book Bag for Every Baby Born in Finland program and the Prata bok project at Helsinki Book Fair were also launched over five years ago.
The overall annual reach of the Finnish Reading Center’s literacy work is estimated at over 3 million Finns. Behind the Finnish Reading Center’s activities is the goal of creating an extensive and lasting impact that enables a reading-oriented lifestyle for everyone.
“For the Finnish Reading Center, assessing the impact of our work and demonstrating its resulting changes has always been central and important. We have consciously invested in monitoring the impact of The Finnish Reading Center,” says Executive Director Emmi Jäkkö.
Last year, the long-term effects of A Book Bag for Every Baby Born in Finland program were examined for the first time after six years of implementation at maternal and child health care clinics. An impact study was conducted also among those who order and attend author visits. The results show how important it is to regularly evaluate the impact and development of core activities as well.
Early book-gifting shapes reading habits for years
According to the 2025 impact study, a book bag received as a baby has had a positive impact on the child’s reading habits even years later. A Book Bag for Every Baby Born in Finland program’s book bags have been distributed to families with babies at maternal and child health clinics since 2019.
According to the impact study, 64 % of parents of 3-4-year-olds say their child’s growing interest in books and reading stems from the time they spent reading together during their baby’s first year of life. 54 % of parents with five-year-olds share the view.
Two-thirds of parents who received the book bag feel it has increased reading within the family. 26% of these parents started reading aloud inspired by the book bag, and 37% have read more frequently after receiving it.
Public health nurses distributing the book bags consider the clinic-provided book gift highly meaningful. All (100%) of the nurses who responded to the survey believe that the A Book Bag for Every Baby Born in Finland encourages families to read, and all of them wish to continue distributing them in the future.
See all results of the impact study for A Book Bag for Every Baby Born in Finland, 2025.
Author visits increase reading motivation, well-being, and sense of community
An impact study on author visits conducted in autumn 2025 shows that their effect on reading motivation and interest in literature is undeniable. Net Promoter Scores (NPS) for author visits are extremely high, with libraries rating them at 93 and audiences at 91 out of 100.
Of those attending an author visit, 96% said they intended to read, 88% planned to borrow, and 37% intended to buy the author’s book. After the visit, 97% of respondents said they understood better the work of an author. 89% gained added value for their reading, and 72% became more interested in literature in general.
90% felt that attending an author visit had a positive impact on their well-being, and 77% felt it strengthened their sense of community. Nearly all library professionals who responded to the survey reported that library users would like to see more author visits.
Author Visit Service’s Key Figures from 2025
- 74,700 readers met an author
- 1,494 author visits and workshops organized
- Over half a million euros paid in fees to authors
- 1,300 registered literary professionals in the service
In 2025 The Finnish Reading Center has been financially supported by the Finnish Ministry of Culture and Education, Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, Foundation Brita Maria Renlunds minne, Finlands svenska författareförening, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Otto A. Malm Foundation, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and Kopiosto.