HCM City (VNA)♔ – The ninth biannual HCM City Book Expo that opens at District 1’s Le Van Tam Park on March 21 will seek to promote reading habits, especially among children.

The weeklong event, entitled Book, Culture, Integration and Development, has attracted 172 local publishers and book distributors, and 36 others from the UK, the US, France, Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, Germany, and Spain. It will have 500 stalls displaying nearly 30,000 titles in fields like politics, economy, history, science, technology, foreign languages and literature. Among the prominent books on display will be best-selling Vietnamese writer Nguyen Nhat Anh’s new literature book for children, Con Cho Nho Mang Gio Hoa Hong (Puppy Brings a Rose Basket), about the life of five dogs raised by a three-member family through the eyes of one of the dogs, Bato. The book is published by the Youth Publishing House, which decided for the first time to print 100,000 copies of a literature book for children right in its first edition. The Hanoi-based MCBooks Joint Stock Company will bring six editions of an English-Vietnamese dictionary compiled by Vietnamese experts and scholars. It also has illustrations by painters like Thanh Chuong, Pham An Hai, Dang Xuan Hoa, Phan Cam Thuong and Pham Binh Chuong. Workshops will be held to discuss new publications while exchanges and discussions will be held between local and foreign writers and translators and readers. Several activities to promote reading habits among children and students will also be held. Photos and books on Vietnam’s seas and islands and the development and integration of HCM City will be on display. La Thai Hy, Director of the city Department of Information and Communication and deputy head of the expo organising committee, said: “The book expo is a playground for book lovers in the city and neighbouring provinces.” The fair is also a chance for local and foreign publishers to meet and share experiences in publishing and distribution, he added. All exhibitors will offer a 10-20 percent discount, and up to 80 percent off on the last three days. The event is expected to attract 900,000 to one million visitors.-VNA