ĐÀ NẴNG — More than 80 pavilions from 24 domestic and foreign publishers displayed around two million books in the Book Festival on the Hàn River bank, near east side of the Rồng (Dragon) Bridge, Đà Nẵng today.

The festival will run through Sunday with various music performances, colouring contest for kids and talks with writers.

Local readers have the chance to hear from famous writers Nguyễn Nhật Ánh, Dr. Đỗ Hồng Ngọc, Lê Minh Quốc, Hamlet Trương, Trần Nguyên Vũ, Đoàn Thạch Biền, Bùi Tự Lực and Anh Khang.

Chef Alain Nghĩa will introduce his book at the festival.

Publishers will also offer discounts from 20 per cent to 50 per cent for some books, buy three get four books and sell old books for between VNĐ10,000 (nearly US$0.4) and VNĐ50,000 ($2.2) each.

In the first edition last year, 70,000 people visited the festival, and 100,000 books were sold.

According to the city’s Department of Culture and Sports, Đà Nẵng plans to open a book street.

Last year, Đông Á College also launched its first reading space, the Green&Brown Bookstore, comprising a library, a bookstore and a coffee shop on Trần Cao Vân Street, housing 10,000 books.

The city also hosted a regular book day event in three districts of Thanh Khê, Liên Chiểu and Sơn Trà to promote reading among youngsters.

The city in co-operation with the Korean International Co-operation Agency also inaugurated the first free public book park for the community in Sơn Trà peninsula last year. — VNS