HCM CITY – The HCM City will open a new pedestrian-only book street on Nguyễn Đổng Chi Street in District 7 in October, offering a series of activities promoting reading culture for more than 300,000 residents in districts 7, 2 and 8.

The 220-metre venue will be set up with 20 stalls managed by the country’s leading publishers, distributors and organisations, such as the HCM City General Publishing House, Trẻ Publishing House, Nhã Nam, First News, and the HCM City General Science Library.

The stalls will introduce books and magazines from domestic and foreign publishers, along with audio and visual products.

There will be a mobile library to provide readers and children a place to relax and enjoy their favourite books, and coffee shops as well.

A stage will be built to serve for talk shows, book introductions and art performances.

Exhibitions, book auctions and book exchanges will be organised regularly on the street.

Bùi Thị Ngọc Hiếu, vice chairwoman of the District 7 People’s Committee, said the authorities hope to turn the new book street in District 7 into a new attraction for local people and foreigners.

It is the second pedestrian book street in HCM City together with Nguyễn Văn Bình Street in District 1.

Opening in January in 2016, Nguyễn Văn Bình Book Street has hosted numerous events to promote reading by the city’s residents, such as Việt Vietnamese Book Day, European Literature Day, a children’s festival, and photo and book exhibitions on HCM City and its people.

In the first six months of this year, the venue welcomed over 1.2 million local and foreign visitors.

Nearly 300,000 books were sold, earning VNĐ19.7 billion ($840,000), an increase of 27 per cent compared to the same period of last year. VNS