BRIEFS. society

Project seeks to promote

courtesy of inac

Open books: Inac members and university professors met yesterday to discuss the Plan Nacional de Lectura. 962339

A Plan Nacional de Lectura, or "National Reading Plan," was announced yesterday by poet and subdirector of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Inac), Genaro Villalaz, to promote reading in Panama.

The project was organized in coordination with the Fundación Biblioteca Nacional Ernesto J. Castillero and various universities in the Panama.

Writer and Inac member Carlos Fong said the project belongs to a larger plan called Año Iberoamericano de Promoción de la Lectura, which was celebrated in Panama in 2005. The motto of the project was "leer para vivir Panamá," or "read to live, Panama."

This projects focus on helping marginalized Panamanians understand the importance of reading. According to sociologist and writer Raúl Leis, 170,000 nationals cannot read or write.