Youth book "Hinter den Sternen ganz nah" wins the 2024 Readers' Prize

The coming-of-age novel "Hinter den Sternen ganz nah" by Regensburg author Petra Barloli y Eckert has won over young people at this year's Book Summer Saxony and won the 2024 Readers' Prize. The young adult book received almost a third of the votes in the online voting, for which a total of five titles were nominated. According to the organizers of the annual reading event, it is designed as a complete chat story and sensitively tells the story of a 15-year-old who has to come to terms with the accidental death of her sister. The Book Summer Reading Prize will be awarded on October 23 at the Grimma City Library and includes a reading tour through Saxony.

Reading promotion during the summer break

This year, 116 public libraries across the country once again had special books for 11 to 16-year-olds available during the summer vacations - from fantasy to love stories and exciting novels to non-fiction books. Under the motto "Hot days - cool books", children and young people were able to register and borrow the books free of charge. The Book Summer is coordinated by the Saxony Library Association and funded by the Free State with around 130,000 euros. It aims to awaken enjoyment of and enthusiasm for reading and motivate people to do so.