- The book of the year award for the author from Regensburg
Coming-of-Age Novel "Close to the Stars" by Regensburg-based author Petra Barloli y Eckert wins the 2024 Book Summer Saxony Readers' Prize. The young adult novel, nominated alongside five other titles, received nearly a third of the votes in the online poll. Organizers of the annual reading event describe it as a complete chat transcript, sensitively telling the story of a 15-year-old girl coping with the accidental death of her sister. The Book Summer Readers' Prize will be awarded on October 23rd at the Grimma City Library, followed by a reading tour across Saxony.
Summer Reading Promotion
This year, 116 public libraries across Saxony offered special books for 11- to 16-year-olds during the summer holidays, ranging from fantasy and romance to thrillers and non-fiction. Under the theme "Hot Days – Cool Books", children and teenagers could register and borrow the books for free. Coordinated by the Saxony Library Association and funded by the Free State with around 130,000 euros, Book Summer aims to foster joy and enthusiasm for reading.
The five other titles that were nominated alongside "Close to the Stars" for the Book Summer Saxony Readers' Prize represented a variety of genres. Despite other engaging options, the adolescent audience seemed to strongly resonate with the theme and character development in Barloli y Eckert's novel, contributing to its victory.
