Lecture by Davor Piskač on Literary Bibliotherapy

To mark International Literacy Day, the professional and academic conference “A Bibliotherapeutic Approach to Promoting Reading and Literacy” was held in Zagreb on 8 September 2026. It brought together experts in bibliotherapy, literature, librarianship, education, rehabilitation and psychiatry.

At the conference, Professor Davor Piskač, PhD, together with Anita Brozović Šolaić from the Ogulin City Library and Reading Room, delivered a lecture entitled “The Literary Text as a Space for Conscious Emotional Growth in the Literary Bibliotherapy Workshops at the Ogulin City Library and Reading Room.”

The presentation outlined the concept behind the Literary Bibliotherapy Workshops in Ogulin and shared insights gained through several years of practice, with particular emphasis on the potential of literary texts to help readers recognise, verbalise and reflect on emotions. Piskač presented an approach in which literary reading, alongside the interpretation of the text itself, also focuses on the reader’s experience, metaphors and the emotional responses elicited by the text.

The lecture connected theoretical research on literary bibliotherapy with its practical application in working with readers, highlighting the potential of this approach in library, educational and broader social contexts.