Events To Mark Bangkok Becoming World Book Capital

[webfact]

WBC
Events to mark Bangkok becoming World Book Capital
The Nation


Suthichai Yoon, left, chairman of Nation Multimedia Group, moderates a seminar

BANGKOK: -- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has kicked off a year-long series of activities to celebrate the city's status as World Book Capital 2013.

Bangkok will take over from Yerevan in Armenia as the new World Book Capital tomorrow, which is World Book and Copyright Day.

Yesterday saw the curtain rise on a three-day exhibition over 7,000 square metres at Siam Paragon.

Over at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, an exhibition on the 35th Anniversary of the SEA Write Award opened yesterday and will run till May 19.

CentralWorld is the venue for fun-filled activities encouraging children to develop a reading habit.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra presided over the World Book Capital international conference and panel discussion at Centara Grand at CentralWorld.

Representatives from the International Publishers Association, International Booksellers Federation and International Federation of Library Associations joined the session along with writers and organisations from several countries.

A seminar on "The Future of Reading, Reading for the Future" was moderated by Suthichai Yoon, chairman of Nation Multimedia Group. Among the speakers were Prof Muhummed Haji Salleh and Vallop Suwandee, chief adviser to Sukhumbhand.

Sukhumbhand said city hall was preparing an ambitious slate of events to seriously promote reading until April 22 of next year.

"We hope Bangkok residents will read about 15 books a year by then," he said.


-- The Nation 2013-04-22

[asdecas]

I was going to make a comment about Thais and books but I'll leave it to someone else - who will be along shortly no doubt..

Edited April 22, 2013 by asdecas

[Sydebolle]

I remember book fairs in Europe which took up more space than Impact Muang Thong Thani and Bitec together. And we are talking fairs, not bookshops. Latter are disappearing for costs reasons yet Amazon and the like are pushing piles on a daily basis.
Considering the inability of 70% of Thais to write their own language perfectly it is mind-boggling to read about another hub intention.
Way to go, indeed, way to go!

[DannyS1951]

I would suggest to anyone that wants to make a sarcastic point about Thais and book reading that they should at least visit one of the twice-yearly Bangkok book fairs. They may be surprised at the large numbers of young people attending.

[JeffreyWitty]

I would suggest to anyone that wants to make a sarcastic point about Thais and book reading that they should at least visit one of the twice-yearly Bangkok book fairs. They may be surprised at the large numbers of young people attending.

Really? Where is this advertised - I would like to attend - seriously. This is the next best thing to a comic book convention in my opinion - and THAT (again my opinion) kinda (comic books) event really gets young kids into reading.

[Cisco]

Yeah. I remember many years ago trying to elevate my Thai girlfriend's literary interest. At the time she was a voracious reader of Agatha Christie. We went to the book store (pre Internet days) and I convinced her to buy Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises".

She read it, and upon completion, asked me, "I no understand, why he no f*** her?"

It was cartoons and Agatha from there on in. Translation or otherwise, I gave up.

Book center. Yeah, I guess.

[davejones]

Yeah. I remember many years ago trying to elevate my Thai girlfriend's literary interest. At the time she was a voracious reader of Agatha Christie. We went to the book store (pre Internet days) and I convinced her to buy Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises".

She read it, and upon completion, asked me, "I no understand, why he no f*** her?"

It was cartoons and Agatha from there on in. Translation or otherwise, I gave up.

Book center. Yeah, I guess.

I'm English, and even I wouldn't read Hemingway. Why not suggest some modern books. I read at least 50 books a year, but back in my school days I didn't even finish the books we were supposed to read. That was because the books we were given were old and boring. If you're encouraging someone to start reading, it's probably better to give them something more modern to start with. Hemingway? LOL. That's a way to get people to stop reading. School put me off reading for years. Didn't start until my 30s.

[BookMan]

Another HUB!!!

And a worthwhile one. Books!

Hubbahubba!

[me313]

This appreciation for reading has not seemed to have made it's way to Phuket, and doesn't appear to be making that journey any time soon. For Farangs or Thais. Unless you mean balancing the books for small change earned for Thais and profits off investments for Farang.

[chrisbacke]

FWIW, it's been advertised pretty heavily along the BTS, and I've seen the overly long domain name enough times that I *should* be able to remember it... What I still haven't seen in the ads are a couple of basic things:

* The place

* The times

* Whether there's any chance of books being in English

* Admission fee (if any) - if it's free, that's one excellent thing to play up

I do intend to check it out, if only to see how the locals perceive books / authors...

[Westaurel]

Yes I remember it. Already told one year ago that Bangkok would be next Book Capital.

Paradoxal for a country which count surely the less reading people. Thais are generally too lazy to reading. Hum.. just reading the news and football results on Thai Rath newspaper. But it can't be considered as reading (books) !

Edited April 22, 2013 by Westaurel

[Xangsamhua]

Mrs Xangsamhua and I went to the October book fair at QSNCC for 10 years up to last year. They were huge affairs. Every bookseller and publisher in Thailand would be there selling both Thai (predominantly) and foreign language books. And the general public came in droves and went away with bags and trolleys full of books. Vast numbers of kids as well.

Just because your wife and in-laws don't read doesn't mean there's no market for books in Thailand. There are 65 million people in this country, so even if only 15% like to read that's a market of nearly 10 million, a large proportion of which, I'd say, are in Bangkok.

There are some reasons why many, perhaps most Thais don't buy or read books.

1. The cost - 200 baht for a new Thai book is not insignificant for most Thais.

2. The limited reference to texts in Thai secondary education.

3. The limited education of many older Thais.

4. The tradition (widespread throughout Asia) that learning is best passed on orally.

5. Lack of incentive to read in order to further one's opportunities and status. "Clever" and well-read people are at a disadvantage in a hierarchical and patronage-based culture, unless they are hi-so or upper middle class themselves.

6. People who read books are seen by some as anti-social and perhaps socially deficient. (When I lived in Korat in the early 70s I was told that if the person next to me saw me reading a book on the bus they'd talk to me because they feared I was lonely.)

7. There are alternatives now, such as games and visual entertainment accessible on hand-held devices.

8. Children in some schools get home late and have to spend time doing homework.

Reading books became a well-regarded activity among working class men in Britain and its colonies (I don't know about the US) in the 19th century when there was a surge in male literacy encouraged by the emerging unions and cooperative societies and supported by the Mechanics' Institutes, the Workers' Education Association (WEA) and the new circulating libraries. Many of the men who became leaders in the trade union movement and political Labour in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were originally self-taught and had their intellects and self-confidence stimulated and nurtured by the lecture programs, libraries and reading groups of organizations like the above.

These opportunities are not available in Thailand, which has a different culture and trajectory of development. It is unfair to blame Thai people for not doing the things they are not encouraged to do. That would be to blame the victims.

But "the times they are a-changing" (I hope).

Edited April 22, 2013 by Xangsamhua

[Langsuan Man]

Bangkok will take over from Yerevan in Armenia as the new World Book Capital tomorrow

Sounds to me like this is a rotating honor, similar to all the prestigious awards that Swampy is always getting

[clockman]

Now if they were talking about facebook! Thai is number two in the world!

[BigBadGeordie]

I think this is an excellent initiative, falling in line with Government Policy. As in get rid of (photocopy) text books from schools and give all the kids a tablet!

[Keesters]

Perhaps they have been awarded world book capital because they have the largest pile of unread books.

[DannyS1951]

The major March/April school holiday book fair has obviously gone but there will be others in July and October. The link below will give the dates.

Link

[Travel2003]

I would suggest to anyone that wants to make a sarcastic point about Thais and book reading that they should at least visit one of the twice-yearly Bangkok book fairs. They may be surprised at the large numbers of young people attending.

Seems to me each time I either pass or enter a book shop here, the youngsters just stand there and read comic books for free.

[candypants]

surely they mean photo-copied books?

[Langsuan Man]

For those who defend Thai reading habits, try buying a book case at a furniture store in this country