The size of the reading has crossed the borders for many years, the event moves the communities, addresses children, young people and elderly as well. The number of the participants prove that reading and literature itself convey universal values and that the public reading also provides a sense of belonging.

This year, the initiator of this marathon is Judit László, who started the reading as the honorary invited in the library's lecture hall, - who is responsible for the outcome of the well done event. Judit brought the epilogue of Magda Szabó’s so called „Sziget-kék” novel, in order to read it out to the audience:

„Brief, but concise. It tells us about how she could write such beautiful fables, how she could invent her stories of her own literature, of our lives.”

Before the read out, Csaba Borboly, the president of Harghita County Council greeted those present. He wished the more than 30.000 people to enjoy the books they are reading and to live it as a community experience. The next speech towards the audience was dr. Balázs Farkas’, the leader of the Hungarian Consulate General of Csíkszereda. He talked about the joy of reading. „This isn’t about the must of reading, but about the process of it enchanting you, since every book is a new invention, an adventure where we discover ourselves and our feelings, because a good book or a text is known for its piece of image of the life itself. (...) Today, when a lot among us are going to read, everyone with his or her own personality and humor, becomes part of this joyful choire with his own voice, and thus, the festivity of reading will be born.”

Librarian Edit Török told us in the name of the organizers, that our aim remains the fact that we want to reflect on the importance and the beauty of reading. Furthermore, it emphasizes that reading is worth, so is drawing one’s attention to the works of a Hungarian poet or writer and to those values that they represent.

The reading was continued by the co-workers of the consulate, who arrived to the library under dr. Balázs Farkas’ direction. The readers started the marathon at 10 o’clock in the lecture hall of the library, similarly to the previous years it included the local schools, cultural institutions, NGOs, groups of associations, however the groups weren’t the only to read out; individuals and families also participated in reading during the afternoon.

The 6^th-7^th grade students of the Nagy Imre Elementary School were the first to read out, then the students of the Segítő Mária Roman Catholic High School continued along with the 6^th grade students of the Petőfi Sándor Elementary School.

The members of the Németh Géza Cultural Association read out this year as well in the library of the county.

The members of the newspaper called „Hargita Népe” came in the early afternoon to participate the public reading, so did a 1st grade Waldorf group along with parents from Csíkszereda and the library’s both active reading groups. A numerous amount of Magda Szabó’s excerpt was read during the public reading, and probably the most popular excerpts came from the her novel entitled Az ajtó, but there were other excerpts as well such as from Abigél, Katalin utca, Régimódi történet, Az őz, Freskó, Ókút, Álarcosbál and her other novels. Her texts written for children were also read out during the day: Tündér Lala, Bárány Boldizsár, Sziget Kék, or the children’s favorite, Ki hol lakik?.

There were a lot of places within Csíkszereda, where the read outs were in progress at the same time. More than 3500 people participated from the institutions of the city, 30 groups applied to join not only from 9 institutions, but from different cultural institutions, associations and organizations.

The High Schools, the Elementary Schools and the kindergartens of Csíkszereda mostly organize their reading marathon at their own seat, though the delegation of several schools also read out in the library of the county:

2405 readers will participate from Székelyudvarhely from 9 different institutions, along with the Hagyományőrzési Forrásközpont and the Unitarian Female Confederation.

The participation of Romanian counties: nearly 28000 people will read out in the country; in several settlements of Transylvania and Székely Land, including the remote dispersal area and Bucharest; in 130 settlements of 16 counties will quote from Magda Szabó’s works. This year, the members of a radio called Marosvásárhelyi Rádió will also participate in the marathon.

The number of the participants from abroad (9 countries) is 3435; 2690 from Hungary’s 17 different counties. This year the so called Hungarian Reading Company from Budapest will read out for the first time in schools, libraries and cultural institutions, mostly in the Egri Balassi Bálint School: from the surrounding countries participants will read out in Highland (Slovakia) and Transcarpathia (Ukraine) as well.

Participants would apply to join from further countries as well: Belgium (Hungarian House of Brussles), Ireland (Dublin), United Kingdom (Szóló Szőlő – Chester, Hungarian study hall), individuals from Germany and Sweden. This year the farthermost participants came from over the seas: in Cleveland, USA the co-workers of the Bocskai Radio will read out under the leading of Lóránd Csibi, so do the members of the Hungarian Cultural Institution in Los Angeles.

Thank you all, who helped us this year as well in promoting the marathon in schools, kindergartens, cultural institutions, libraries, be it among young or elderly people. Thanks to all the local organizers and readers for participating, it was good to relive that certain sense of belonging again.

After the marathon is over, will we summarize the number of the participants. The reports, pictures and feedbacks from the organizers will hopefully help us in creating a clear image of the event’s mood, and we are going to post a detailed report on our website soon.

The media also reported about the opening of the event and several locales of it, thanks for the presence and the support of the press.