(VNF) - The 10^th Ho Chi Minh City Book Festival, themed “Books – Culture, Integration and Development”, opened at the Le Van Tam Park in District 1 on March 19^th.

The book fair is an iconic cultural event in the city. It plays an important role in rebuilding and developing popularity of books in Vietnam.

The event is held by the HCM City Information and Communications Department, Sai Gon Culture Corp, HCM City Book Distribution Corporation (Fahasa), the Youth Publishing House, HCMC General Publishing House, and the HCM City Culture–Literature and Arts Publishing House.

HCM City Book Festival 2018 on March 19^th. (Source: FAHASA/FB)

Delivering his opening remark, General Director of the Saigon Culture Company Truong Van Hien, head of the organising board, said this is a special festival featuring culture. It is not only a festival of book lovers but also an activity honouring reading culture.

Through the biennial festival, organisers hopes to promote the reading movement and the building of a learning society, contributing to improving people’s knowledge and nurturing talents in service of the nation’s industrialisation and modernization, he said.

This year’s event features 900 booths of nearly 180 participants, including 40 foreign publishers from the U.S., the UK, France and Singapore. The largest-ever volume of over 300,000 book titles are introduced to visitors, up 27 per cent against 2016.

Visitors will also have a chance to meet and exchange with young singers and writers, and enjoy discounts of up to 50 per cent.

Pham Minh Thuan, director general of HCM City's Book Distributor (FAHASA), and deputy head of the organising board, said the main stage will be situated in a large hall, with the extra space allowing this year’s event to host a greater number of activities. Nearly 55 exchanges with authors, talks, and book launches will take place over seven days.

The number of books on popular topics related to teenagers, children, skills, and technologies will outnumber those on history, culture, and literature, said Thuan.

The week-long event is expected to attract around 1 million visitors./.

VNF/VNA