A book fair held in HCM City next week seeks to encourage and entrench the reading habit among the community at large. VNA/VNS Photo by Hồng Giang

HCM CITY — A book fair that will open this week aims to encourage and firm up reading habits, especially among children and young people, authorities say.

The event will celebrate the first Việt Nam Book and Reading Cultural Day to honour authors, people working in book publishing and distribution, and those contributing to developing reading culture among the community.

The fair will be divided into different sections that will, among other things, highlight digital transformation in the publishing industry as well as “examples and strategies for the development of a reading culture”.

The event will display around 10,000 Vietnamese and foreign titles on various topics from the city’s major publishers and book distributors including the HCM City Book Distribution Corporation (FAHASA), the Trẻ (Youth) Publishing House, Phương Nam Books, and the HCM City General Publishing House.

Hundreds of audio books and e-books will be displayed and sold at the event, which will also include several talks between authors and cultural experts and visitors.

Book fair organisers will also host a special event to introduce a new book series about HCM City.

The two-day (April 19-20) event will be held at the Nguyễn Huệ Pedestrian Street in District 1.

A series of programmes to celebrate the Việt Nam Book and Reading Cultural Day will also be held at the HCM City Book Pedestrian Street in District 1’s Nguyễn Văn Bình Street at the same time, organizers said.

An important activity to mark the event will be the launch of book clubs and installation of book shelves at schools and agencies in 21 districts and Thủ Đức City from April 19 to May 20 to encourage the reading habit, especially among students.

A national online book fair themed Thắp Lửa Tri Thức (Lighting the Flame of Knowledge) will be held at website book365.vn from April 19 to May 20.

During the event, sellers will offer discounts of 15-25 per cent on more than 40,000 titles from 100 publishing houses and distributors across the country. — VNS