This year's event will feature a collective reading of poetry by Jan Kochanowski.

President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda sent a special letter encouraging participation in the National Reading of Jan Kochanowski's poetry.

This year's National Reading is the poetry of Jan Kochanowski, in which deep reverie about the world is combined with humour, and ideas of humanism with mature civic reflection and concern for the Homeland. Our eminent Renaissance author included in his works emotions and experiences that are truly universal and therefore close to our contemporaries. Written in beautiful Polish and full of wise advice, the poetry of the Master of Czarnolas is an extraordinary chronicle of the thoughts and customs of the former Republic of Poland, which unites generations and is still relevant today," the Presidential Couple emphasised in their letter.

(...) we encourage you to read together and rediscover in your original interpretations the songs, poems and epigrams of Jan Kochanowski on Saturday, 6 September 2025, and to continue the National Reading in subsequent years. We are convinced that this important and necessary action will continue to unite Poles all over the world, bringing all participants real joy and satisfaction from being together in many inspiring encounters with the canon of Polish literature," the Presidential Couple noted in their message.

Jan Kochanowski is counted among the most eminent Polish poets and greatest European authors of the Renaissance. He was born in 1530 in Sycyna near Zwoleń. He studied at the Kraków Academy and at the University of Padua, and travelled around Europe in his youth. In 1559 he returned to Poland and accepted the service of a courtier at the magnate's courts and at the royal court. A dozen years later, he settled permanently at the hereditary estate in Czarnoles, devoting himself to writing. During this period, he continued to write songs and epigrams. After the death of his beloved daughter, Urszulka, he published a cycle of Threnodies - a masterpiece of Old Polish literature. Kochanowski died suddenly in 1584 during a session of the Sejm in Lublin, and was buried in the crypt of the Zwoleń church.

Jan Kochanowski's poetry touches on a variety of subjects - from the serious and momentous to the lighter and humorous. It describes court and landed gentry life, and features patriotic themes, moral reflections, ancient and biblical references. In his poems, one can find humanistic religiosity, admiration for life, but also deep reverie over passing and human fate. The artist contributed to the development of the Polish literary language, and his incomparable works remain alive and continue to inspire to this day.

The poetry of Jan Kochanowski will be read as part of the National Reading campaign on Saturday 6 September 2025.