This year’s Macao Book Carnival is up and running at Macao Polytechnic University’s Multi-Sport Pavilion until 13 July, with nearly 30,000 titles in Chinese, English and Portuguese to browse and buy.
The 28th edition of the event is also hosting a number of events, including book launches and signing sessions with authors, along with a painting exhibition, Xinhua reports. Admission is free and the carnival will be operating 10:30 am to 9 pm Monday to Friday; and 10 am to 9:30 pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
East Asian Culture is being particularly spotlighted at the event this year. At the opening ceremony last Friday, president of the Macao Association of Literacy Promotion, Chan Im Wa, noted that Macao has a unique position in the historical and cultural development of East Asia.
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She also urged Macao’s writers to extend their reach beyond the city and tap into the global Chinese-language reading market.
The government has previously led efforts to turn Macao into a City of Reading through measures like Macao Library Week, book exchanges, pop-up libraries and the Young Children Reading Programme. Earlier this year, a Cultural Affairs Bureau survey showed that 80 percent of respondents had read at least one book in the past year.
The SAR already has one of the highest densities of libraries in the surrounding region, with the Macao Public Library system, under the Cultural Affairs Bureau, managing 17 public libraries in 2019. Plans are currently afoot to build a new four-storey library Central Library on the grounds of the former Hotel Estoril.
