Numerous book-related events and reading spaces have been established across districts, towns, and Thu Duc City, contributing to the creation of a healthy cultural environment and spreading positive values.
More reading spaces
The People's Committee of District 6 (Ho Chi Minh City) has officially inaugurated the renovation project of Binh Phu Park, with a highlight being the book garden — a space that harmoniously combines reading culture and nature. Located in a park full of shade, the book garden contributes to enhancing the quality of public spaces, blending entertainment, education, and culture.
According to Le Thanh Binh, Vice Chairman of the District 6 People's Committee, this area, with its spacious design, is conceived as an open space where people can both enjoy the cool green landscape and explore the rich world of books, made possible through the collaboration with Phuong Nam Bookstore.
Previously, the leadership of Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden cooperated with the Youth Publishing House to open a 'book garden' within the shaded grounds of the zoo. In a quiet and breezy space, the book garden is expected to promote reading culture among families visiting for recreation and relaxation.
The book garden features two hexagonal houses and a spacious outdoor area under the shade of trees, equipped with tables, chairs, bookshelves, and collections of books across various genres, particularly children's books. This space serves as a place for children to stop, enjoy interesting books, color, draw, and participate in other activities.
Huynh Thu Thao, Chairwoman of the Board of Members of the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden Company, stated that the book garden was created with the aim of providing a reading culture space in nature. The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden and the Youth Publishing House have signed a memorandum of understanding to sponsor books and support the development of the reading space. This will be a unique highlight, allowing visitors to not only immerse themselves in nature but also experience knowledge.
Phan Thi Thu Ha, Director of the Youth Publishing House, shared that the organisation had donated 1,000 books along with some tables, chairs, and bookshelves to the book garden on International Children's Day (June 1). In the near future, the Youth Publishing House will continue to regularly provide the latest children's publications to support the book garden.
Through these reading spaces, book streets, and various events related to books and culture, residents, especially young people, have had more opportunities to access books. This, in turn, has sparked a love for books and helped to foster a reading culture.
Nguyen Anh Tuyet, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Book Street Company, stated that after one year of operation, the Thu Duc City Book Street has quickly become a popular cultural destination within the city. The Thu Duc City Book Street has attracted the participation of many local organisations, offering activities that cater to the spiritual and cultural life of residents, especially students. The activities held at the book street are diverse in form and genre, including author interactions, book signings, art performances, cultural and artistic competitions, fun travel with books — experiential lessons outside the classroom, and book exhibitions, among others.
Nguyen Thi Anh Minh, from Tang Nhon Phu A Ward, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, said: "Since the book street was established, I no longer have to go to the city centre to find new books. The frequent book launch events at Thu Duc City Book Street have helped readers better understand the authors and the values that the books bring."
Further spreading the reading culture
Ho Chi Minh City has invested in and maintained the development of a reading culture for many years. On average, nearly 400 activities related to book fairs, exhibitions, author-book interactions, and book introductions are organised in the city each year, including international book fairs.
Many regular activities have become cultural highlights, attracting large numbers of people, such as the Book Street Festival for Lunar New Year (Tet), Ho Chi Minh City Book Fair, Children's Book Fair, and the Day of Books and Reading Culture, which draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. In addition, there is the 'Mobile Book Bus' programme, which serves residents in suburban and remote areas.
In 2023, Ho Chi Minh City became the first locality in the country to announce the City Children's Book Award. The city also selected and connected notable individuals in various fields (such as researchers, authors, journalists, students, singers, actors, etc.) to become Reading Culture Ambassadors for annual terms, helping to spread the reading culture to the public.
Lam Dinh Thang, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications, stated that with the message of "Each citizen is a Reading Culture Ambassador", the department has announced the Reading Culture Ambassadors of Ho Chi Minh City during the annual Day of Books and Reading Culture, aiming to spread knowledge to the community. Along with this, the city also established the Ho Chi Minh City Reading Culture Ambassador Club to create opportunities for the ambassadors across terms to harness their creativity in promoting reading culture and the values that books bring to the public.
As an honorary Reading Culture Ambassador of the city, with no term limit, researcher Nguyen Dinh Tu has always been a powerful source of inspiration for many generations of readers, especially young readers. His book series "Gia Dinh-Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City: A Long History (1698-2020)", published by the Ho Chi Minh City General Publishing House, recently received the A Prize at the 7th National Book Awards, demonstrating his tireless and continuous working efforts.
At the age of 104, Tu still reads, researches, and writes every day, never ceasing to strive to contribute valuable works to the world.
According to Trinh Huu Anh, Head of the Publishing, Printing, and Distribution Office of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications, the city has been implementing several projects to develop reading culture, including the "Building of Book Streets and Reading Spaces in the city to promote reading culture among the people" project.
In this context, the city will expand the book street system across the eastern, western, southern, and northern areas to help spread the reading culture. The city will build three new reading spaces and book streets: the Book Space in Binh Tan District; Nguyen Dong Chi Book Street in District 7; and the Book Space in Cu Chi District in the Town of the same name.
“According to the projected schedule, these new reading spaces and book streets will officially be operational before April 2025,” Trinh Huu Anh added.
These new reading points in the southwest and northwest will connect with the Ho Chi Minh City Book Street in the east and the central Nguyen Van Binh Book Street in District 1, creating a "book street ecosystem". At the same time, further investment will be made to develop Ho Chi Minh City Book Street into a distinctive and iconic location for cultural, tourism, publishing activities, and the development of the city's reading culture.
The city is implementing the "Equipping 5 Million Books for Local Institutions" programme to bring books to every resident in the city through libraries in schools at all levels of education, including regular education and the 21 district libraries, as well as in Thu Duc City.
Additionally, the city plans to execute the "50 Smart Libraries for Students" initiative, which will upgrade the 50 digital libraries which are currently being implemented within the city's education system. These libraries will provide paper books, e-books, audiobooks, and a range of modern equipment designed for teaching and learning in schools.
This programme will play a crucial role in promoting the reading habit, enhancing thinking skills, and developing the competencies of young people, serving as a foundation to improve the quality of human resources for Ho Chi Minh City in the future.
