BOOK LOVERS: Readers visit the Xuyên Việt (Across the Country) Book Fair held in April in Biên Hoà City. Photo courtesy of Xuyên Việt Book Fair

ĐỒNG NAI – The southern province of Đồng Nai has announced it will organise its first book expo in Biên Hoà City by the end of this year.

The week-long event will attract around 100 domestic and international publishing houses and book distributors.

The 2,000-sq.m fair will showcase 20,000 book titles in the different fields of politics, economy, history, culture, science, technology, literature, self-development, and foreign language.

The event’s highlight will be a book corner displaying 1,000 titles for both adults and children about the history, culture and people of Biên Hoà – Đồng Nai.

Dương Thanh Truyền, a book ambassador of HCM City, said at the conference held in Biên Hoà early this week that the book expo needs to focus on developing the reading habits of local people, honour the historical and cultural values of the land and people of Đồng Nai, and create favourable conditions for publishers and book distributors to launch book introductions and exchanges.

The fair will feature painting and photo exhibitions on Vietnamese seas and islands, the development and achievements of the province, and its relationship with its sister cities including Tuy Hòa City of Phú Yên Province, Quy Nhơn City of Bình Định Province, and Jiangsu Province of China.

The organisers will launch book introductions and discussions with writers and cultural experts to promote reading habits among children and students.

They will also set up a book café, and offer a calligraphy corner and a workshop for visitors to learn about Biên Hoà ceramics, the province’s most famous handicraft, which has existed for over 300 years.

Huỳnh Văn Tới, a council member of the HCM City University of Culture, said that with the participation and contribution of the country’s leading publishers and distributors, the book expo promises to create a destination for readers, and promote and spread reading culture as well as the image of the province’s land and people to the community.

He added Biên Hoà – Đồng Nai has recently organised many activities to promote learning and reading for people, particularly students, such as giving free books and offering financial support for book publishing.

Writer Phương Huyền, head of the communication office of the HCM City Writers’ Association, suggested that the book fair should launch activities to introduce publications by writers, poets, cultural researchers, and young authors from the province, and host discussions with local authors to promote their works.

Nguyễn Xuân Thanh, deputy chairman of the Biên Hoà City’s People’s Committee, expects publishers and book distributors to share their experiences and opinions to help the province organise the book expo and activities to promote the habit of reading.

The book expo is expected to be held from December 26 to January 2 at Biên Hùng Park. VNS