Shenzhen Book Fair, the first in the city’s history, will take place at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian CBD from July 19 to 22, with 300 booksellers across the country displaying 1 million books, a press conference was told Thursday.
Dozens of cultural celebrities, including famous Chinese novelists like Mai Jia and Chi Li, will give lectures during the fair. Frederic Pierucci, author of “The American Trap,” a best-seller in China, will also attend the fair, said Cao Yu, deputy manager with the organizer — Shenzhen Publication and Distribution Group.
Themed “Reading and Cheering for the Motherland” and sponsored by the publicity department of the city’s Party committee and the Shenzhen Administration of Press and Publication, the fair is an implementation of the city’s cultural innovation plan for 2020 and part of the 2019 South China Book Festival, a provincial event encouraging people to love reading books.
“This year is the 20th anniversary of the Shenzhen Reading Month,” Cai Yanjuan, deputy director of the publication and film section of the publicity department of the city’s Party committee, said. “We hope the fair will help enhance Shenzhen’s comprehensive competitiveness and cultural influence.”
Hall 1 of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center will be the main venue of the fair. The total area of 30,000 square meters will be divided into sections for classic books, themed publications, parent-children books, culture and creativity publications, and sales exhibitions.
Five Shenzhen Book City stores in Luohu, Futian, Nanshan, Bao’an and Longgang districts will serve as subvenues.
The venues will open to the public between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on three of the four days, with service hours extending to 8:30 p.m. July 20.
As an event to mark its 35th anniversary, Shenzhen’s Haitian Publishing House will display 1,000 books published by the company and sell books at a 50-percent discount.
The admission is free for primary and middle school students. For others, the fee to the main venue is 10 yuan (US$1.47). Visitors can purchase tickets at the ticket offices of the main venue and subvenues in advance or through the WeChat account, “ 深圳书展 SZBF.”
UNESCO named Shenzhen a global model for the promotion of reading in 2013, bestowing the honorary title in recognition of the city’s continuous efforts to improve residents’ literacy.
Du Yue, secretary general of the National Commission for UNESCO in China, said at the award ceremony that year that Shenzhen’s experiences in promoting public reading could be shared with cities worldwide.
Official data shows Shenzhen’s adults read 7.23 paper books and 11.21 e-books each year on average.