History

The Night with Andersen is an international event in which libraries, schools, clubs and children's homes in the Czech Republic, Europe and overseas open their doors once a year, always at the same time, so that children, equipped with pillows and sleeping bags, can listen to the reading of fairy tales.

A magical night invites all young and old readers, regardless of nationality, to an unusual adventure with books. It brings a sense of belonging and is full of fun, joy and adventure. The event is linked to the anniversary of the Danish storyteller H. Ch. Andersen and the International Children's Book Day and is organised by the Children's Library Club SKIP ČR to promote children's reading.

The first Night with Andersen took place at our library in Uherske Hradiste in 2000 when about 20 young readers took part in a night-time adventure in the form of fairy tale reading, games, competitions and lots of surprises. Together with our colleagues from Jicin, Sobotka, Letohrad and Zlin we prepared everything in our attic space in the children's department where in the late hours of the night we were visited by Sleepyhead the magic elf, and also by the venerable Shelf Bookborrower who took the children to Dreamland.

Thanks to the Internet we were able to send messages with greetings to Andersen himself as well as to all supporters of good books for children during this magical fairy tale night. The fame of the Night spread around Bohemia and Moravia thanks to the Children Books Club SKIP (Association of Library and Information Professionals of the Czech Republic). And it was thanks to this club that the idea of nighttime reading aloud spread to many libraries that celebrated the Children's Book Day by holding the first joint Night with Andersen in 2001. Big help for us was the Children Books Club SKIP and the Internet. Thanks to the Czech National library, Mgr. Zlata Houskova and Czech Technical University an electronic conference named Andersen was created. Thanks to the Internet each participating "sleeping" library knew what was happening where, which books were read and even what food was eaten on the night. In that first year, in 2001, 40 libraries took part. Everywhere the idea was liked very much and spread further afield.

In 2002, children slept over in 72 libraries in our country as well as in Slovakian District library in Trnava, children also took part in sleepovers in schools and clubs. Over 1500 children and 300 adults spent a magical night full of fairy tales organized in commemoration of the Children's Book Day, in support of children's reading and for the first time to end the promotion campaign March - the month of the Internet. During the Night the children from Bohemia, Moravia and even Slovakia chatted online and wrote a Joint celebratory poem about the Night and Hans Christian Andersen.

In 2003, a big, now truly international Night with Andersen was held in 153 libraries, schools, care homes and children's clubs. Children in six libraries in Slovakia and four libraries in Poland also experienced the magical sleepovers. Information about the Night were sent through the Internet thanks to SKIP as far as USA, Alaska, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary and even the faraway island of Trinidad. 

The statistical reports from the individual years inform about how the Night went on, and worth remembering:

2003 - creation of the Night with Andersen logo and commemorative sticker - František Petrák

2005 - the first "night" postcard illustrated by Galina Miklínová

2005 - the first fairy tale trees were planted - Fabularius Anderseni fairy tale trees

2007 - creation of the jingle of the Night with Andersen - Martin Hybler from Turnov

2011 - Czech Schools without Borders join the Night

2011 - the bedtime story from the series about Kanafásek is broadcast: How not to sleep in the library - Galina Miklínová 

2011 - first participation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in the Night with Andersen

2012 - Čtyřlístek magazine No. 538, 11/2012 was published with the story Night with Andersen - drawn and written by Jaroslav Němeček

2013 - Night with Andersen is awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Prisen in Odense, Denmark

2015 - The wife of the President of the Czech Republic, Ivana Zemanová, takes part in the Night with Andersen

2017 - Čtyřlístek magazine No. 623, 3/2017 was published with the story Čtyřlístek and the Night in the Library - draws and writes Jaroslav Němeček

2018 - the magazine Fifík 3/2018 is published in Slovakia with the story Očko and Night in the Library - written by Gabriela Futová, drawn by Miro Regitko

2019 - over the past 20 years, 927,835 children and adults have participated in the Night with Andersen

2020 - the book Knedlík and his adventures and the story Knedlík and the Night with Andersen are published - authors: Strigaro, Schulz, Kanellia 

2020/2021 - COVID epidemic moves Andersen Night to home space or alternate dates

2020/2022 - millionth participant (MěK Rokycany) and millionth first participant (MěK A. Marek Turnov) announced