Activities of Vietnam Book Day and Reading Culture in Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day in Ho Chi Minh City takes place from April 15 to May 1, with the peak from April 17 to April 22 on Cong Xa Paris Street (from Nguyen Du Street to Le Duan Street), Nguyen Van Binh Street, District 1 and in Thu Duc City and 21 districts in Ho Chi Minh City. The 3rd Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day in 2024 is organized with 4 messages: "Good books need readers"; "Precious books for friends", "Give good books - Buy real books", "Good books: Eyes read - Ears listen". This is an important cultural event to honor the value of books, readers, those who participate in collecting, composing, publishing, printing, distributing, preserving books, raising the responsibility of all levels and sectors for building and developing a reading culture in Vietnam and is one of the key events of economic development. This year, Ho Chi Minh City organizes Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day with more than 300 activities, especially on Cong Xa Paris Street and Ho Chi Minh City Book Street, there are nearly 100 special programs such as: talk show series with topics on books, old books, audio books, skills to form reading habits, exchanges, book signings... Especially the book signing session with writer Nguyen Nhat Anh at 8:30 am on April 21, at the main stage on Cong Xa Paris Street. Also at the program, interactive and experiential activities are organized in a variety of ways, richly, and healthily for readers of all ages at the booths and the performance and art exchange programs taking place throughout, promising to bring a healthy entertainment playground for the people and youth of Ho Chi Minh City. Activities spread along Cong Truong Cong Xa Paris Street and Ho Chi Minh City Book Street (Nguyen Van Binh Street) will bring a space of "Opening knowledge", divided into 4 sub-areas including: Digital transformation scene of the exhibition of books that won the National Book Award in 2023 including 41 works; Exhibition area of ​​documents and publications commemorating the 49th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2024) and the 138th anniversary of International Labor Day (May 1, 1886 - May 1, 2024); Exhibition of documents and publications commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory (May 7, 1954 - May 7, 2024) and the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam (July 21, 1954 - July 21, 2024). All works and documents on display are encoded into QR Codes to provide multimedia experiences and increase reader interaction.

The exhibition space, experience of e-books and the exhibition space of publishers and book distributors with the participation and companionship of 31 units and 42 booths will bring nearly 50,000 good and useful books, diverse in genres and rich in topics. With the theme of 2024 of Ho Chi Minh City "Determination to effectively implement digital transformation and Resolution 98/2023/QH15 of the National Assembly", at this year's Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day, the application of technology is also focused on, publishers and book distributors will organize livestream sessions to introduce books, interact with readers on the TikTok platform, and cashless payments are also supported by the units participating in the program. This year, Ho Chi Minh City will also continue to announce the Ho Chi Minh City Reading Culture Ambassador. With the message "Every citizen is a Reading Culture Ambassador", in 2023, Ho Chi Minh City announced 10 Reading Culture Ambassadors of Ho Chi Minh City for the 2023-2024 term, the first Ambassador is writer Nguyen Nhat Anh. On this occasion, the Organizing Committee will announce the establishment of the Ho Chi Minh City Reading Culture Ambassador Club, a place to create common living conditions for Reading Culture Ambassadors through the terms, creating an environment to meet the needs of cultural activities and enjoyment of reading culture, joining hands to spread reading culture and the values ​​that books bring to readers...

Thuy Linh (t/h)