Miniature reading gets Brazilians excited about books

The Leitura de Bolso campaign sends mini-reading instalments to smartphones to get Brazilians excited about reading.

Initiative's 5 minute book instalments encourage reading in Brazil.

Books and the pleasure of reading are often tossed aside in the hustle and bustle of daily life. To some, taking time out with a hardcover or paperback novel is a luxury they can’t afford. With this in mind, a Brazilian pocket reading initiative called Leitura de Bolso created a way for readers to consume bite-sized stories on the go using the social app, Whatsapp.

This is the second reading initiative to come from Brazil. For World Book Day 2015, Brazil’s biggest pocket book publisher L&PM Editores created Ticket Books, a special edition pocket book collection that doubled as a train ticket.

With Leitura de Bolso, users register for the service online. The project was launched in November 2015 by two creatives from design agency Isobar Brasil.

Registered users receive a free book excerpt every Wednesday. The excerpts feature written text and multimedia like pictures, sound or video from guest writers. According to the initiative’s website, the writers will write in a special format for WhatsApp. Brazilian writer Robert Klotz will launch the series.

In 2014, it was found that up to 70 per cent of Brazilians had not read a single book. Leitura de Bolso and other initiatives like it all aim to make reading more accessible to the population.