• 2014-01-13

The Taiwan Reading Festival is a unique celebration that began in 2013. In 2013 it was held on December 1-7, with activities and events held all around the island and publishers, bookstores, libraries, and public and private entities joining in. It encouraged the public to establish the three golden rules of books: buy books, read books, and share books. Several events were held, including “100 Great Reads, As Recommended by Famous People,” “Reading Is Awesome,” and “Let Books Float; Soar with Books,” which gave life to another wave of reading in Taiwan.

NCL’s Director-general Tseng stated, the Taiwan Reading Festival is something unique to Taiwan. Its purpose is to increase more people’s passion for reading, to find joy in books and reading, and to create a unique brand for Taiwan that can be shared with other countries, so that these countries can see a new powerful side of Taiwan.

For “100 Great Reads, As Recommended by Famous People,” the Minister of Education, President of Central Bank, wowprime’s chairman, the mayor of Taichung, and several county magistrates (from Yilan, Pingtung, etc.), and over 50 authors, participated. During the books exhibition associated with “100 Great Reads,” the public was able to come to the library to obtain and read the books on the list. They could also attend lectures hosted by libraries and meet these famous people. “100 Great Reads” was definitely the first choice in selling, reading, and sharing books during the festival.

To encourage the public to purchase and share more books, the “Reading is Awesome” event brought together 7 online bookstores and 16 bookstore chains (which have a total of 154 stores among them) to provide discounts to the public, and NCL also gave away prizes.

During the reading festival, another event was held called “Let Books Float; Soar with Books,” which encouraged the public to start collecting good books at home, and to share the joys of reading with others.

To kick off the Taiwan Reading Festival, NCL held a “Reading Makes You Soar” press conference on November 29. It was a wonderful start to the 2013 Taiwan Reading Festival.