National book festival to feature various activities

The event is an activity to welcome Vietnam Book Day (April 21), the World Book and Copyright Day (April 23) and the 100^th anniversary of the National Library of Vietnam.

The theme of the festival is "Book, Knowledge and Social Development". The festival aims to honour the value of books and reiterate their role and importance in society. The festival also intends to honour those who collect, compile, publish, print, distribute, preserve and disseminate books apart from encouraging the reading movement in the community.

It also aims to promote awareness on the significance and importance of reading for acquisition of knowledge, skills, development of thinking, education and personality development, while improving responsibility of relevant authorities and social organisations at all levels in the building and development of Vietnamese reading culture.

The festival features various activities, including an exhibition, "Book, Knowledge and Social Development" (April 20 to May 5), to introduce readers to materials on the essence of human knowledge; cultures and civilisations around the world formed on the development of knowledge; knowledge gained and Vietnam's achievements in the areas of socio-economic, scientific and technological development, as well as education, healthcare security and defence.

An exchange of authors and works will be held on the morning of April 20. Participating speakers include historian Duong Trung Quoc and Nguyen Kiem, former director of Bureau of Publication under the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The speakers will introduce and discuss some of the typical works awarded by the Vietnam Publishing Association. Participants will also have chance to receive two return air tickets for Hanoi - the Europe route sponsored by Turkish Airlines.

In addition, several contests including an English storytelling contest and an author-and-book identifying competition will also be held on the opening day.

Within the framework of the event, the organisers call on and receive funding from agencies, organizations and individuals to support libraries in remote and difficult areas.

The event also features a book fair from April 20-23 with the participation of a number of publishers and bookstores, introducing thousands of books at preferential prices.

(Source: NDO)