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The 5th Annual National Children’s Reading Summit, organized by Ethiopia Reads on April 2–3, 2025, in Addis Ababa was a great success. This year’s theme was “Cultivating a Nation of Readers: Inspiring Parental Involvement and Cultural Storytelling for Early Childhood Literacy.” We brought together around 200 educators, researchers, ECD experts, central and regional government education officials, authors, illustrators and literacy advocates to promote a frank and serious conversation about improving early childhood literacy across Ethiopia.

Over the past six years since the launch of the National Children’s Reading Summit, the event has undergone a remarkable transformation. Initially, we had to request participants to attend, but now it has become a standing-room-only conference. Literacy professionals in Ethiopia have embraced the event as the premier platform for professionals and officials to address the challenges of children’s reading. Ethiopia Reads has established itself as a trusted independent convener through its consistent focus on fostering high-quality conversations. This is achieved by inviting engaging and relevant speakers and providing a space for non-presenters to contribute and engage in debates. Despite the relatively small size of our organization, Ethiopia Reads has garnered a strong reputation as the most credible team to host critical and influential discussions on foundational learning in Ethiopia. We are committed to building upon this reputation and continuing to contribute to meaningful discussions in this field.

A full write-up of the event is here: Summary of Ethiopia Reads 5th Summit 2025.

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The Board of Directors also spent two days discussing our accomplishments, monitoring and evaluation, areas needing improvement and prioritizing activities and expansion for the next 2-5 years. We would like to thank Melaku Negussie for his hospitality and in providing the meeting space for ER. 

Ms. Alemtsehay Wodajo with Yemisrach Worku, ER Country Director

Directors Elizabeth Taylor (right) and Carol Settgast (left) with Yemisrach Worku (center)

Board of Directors Meeting – Day 2

Below are photos of our supporters at the Meet & Greet in Silver Spring. 

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The second Hawassa Reading Festival was held successfully from May 3rd to 4th, 2025, at Hawassa Stadium. The event attracted over 2,000 participants, including students, parents, government officials, educators, and community members. This festival was organized in partnership with the Rotary Fellowship of Kite (RFOK) and endorsed by the Hawassa City Administration’s Education Department. The primary objective of the festival was to promote a reading culture among children under the theme “Building a Brighter Future through Children’s Reading and Holistic Growth.”

More than 2,000 children from the 10 primary schools in the area, along with their parents, participated in the fun. Ethiopia Reads hosted storytellers, outdoor libraries, read-alongs, bouncy castles, and kite-making fun. Children and parents were singing, dancing, and flying kites! The event was considered an enormous success, as its objective was to get everyone to learn about the joy of stories, read books outside the classroom, and at home. We are grateful for the many young volunteers from high schools, Hawassa University, and other local colleges who always show up and are the most enthusiastic supporters! Performances by students from various local schools: Ethiopia Tikdem, Misrak Ber, Hayik, Kike, and Saint Gabriel Primary Schools. Notably, the RFOK organized a special kite-making workshop and flying event in collaboration with the Education Research and Development (ER) department, adding an element of excitement and entertainment to the kite and reading festival.

Furthermore, a recognition ceremony was held to honor outstanding parents, teachers, librarians, and school administrators for their invaluable contributions to literacy. The event successfully harmonized education and entertainment, creating a joyful and inclusive atmosphere that fostered children’s enthusiasm for reading and encouraged community engagement.

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Little authors at the Abrehot Library participating in the Ethiopia Reads Young Writer’s Workshop in April 2024 – led by Elizabeth Spor Taylor.

Staff, board members, volunteers, and speakers, who helped to create the successful Children’s Reading Summit in April 2024.

Please contact us if you would like to sponsor this great event in Addis Ababa!

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Staff, board members, volunteers and speakers who attended the 2024 event

On April 11-12, 2024, Ethiopia Reads successfully held the 4th Children’s Reading Summit under the theme “Supporting Children in Early Learning”. Over 115 participants representing diverse institutions and backgrounds — ranging from schools and sub-cities to writers and publishers, ministry bureaus, government officials, international organizations, and professionals attended the event. We were lucky to have many early reading experts engaged and some presented at the Summit. Prior to the Summit, Board Member and children’s book author Elizabeth Spor Taylor lead two writing workshops: one for primary school aged children and one for advance adult authors.

Here the official summaries from the previous summits.

2019 – Proceedings Report for The First Annual Children’s Reading Summit

2020 – Proceedings Report for The Second Annual Children’s Reading Summit

2022 – Proceedings Report for The Third Annual Children’s Reading Summit

Coming soon 2024 Report

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Participants at the workshop with Elizabeth

Ethiopia Reads Board Member and author Elizabeth Spor Taylor ran the latest Advance Writing Workshop for Children’s Books this April. The Workshop preceded our 4th Children’s Reading Summit. In addition to Ethiopia Reads staff, 14 advance level writers attended the workshop to help the authors step-by-step to come up with concept books. In the month that followed since the workshop, Elizabeth has worked one-on-one with each aspiring author to complete their impressive and imaginative books!

Participants working in pairs with concept cards

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Board Member and children’s book author Elizabeth Spor Taylor filled a gap in book writing by leading a hands-on workshops in Addis Ababa in April prior to Ethiopia Reads’ 4th Children Reading Summit. Elizabeth worked with Nardos Debebe (a children’s book author and community children’s reading advocate) and Yoseph Ayalew (another children’s book author and OHBD local printing lead) on a children’s workshop at the famous Abrehot Library.  (Nardos leads a weekly program entitled The Twins Babu and Buba Writing Project based on a book she wrote.) About 50-60 enthusiastic primary school children accompanied by their parents actively participated and engaged in the workshop to create a third book in a series following up on a book called Mamas and a second book called Papas (both published by OHBD-RSG)  The young authors wrote the content as well as illustrated their books using their imagination.

Elizabeth with young writers

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