The Hai Chau Book Festival 2017 entitled ‘Enjoying the Pleasure of Reading’ is taking place until 23 April at the western end of Da Nang’s Rong (Dragon) Bridge, opposite the Museum of Cham Sculpture.  The festival opens daily 8.00am - 9.00pm with admission free, and this year it is the largest ever in the city.

Visitors to the festival (Photo: Internet)

This year’s event features around 200 stands which are introducing over 2 million new and interesting books from 50 domestic and foreign publishing houses.

During the festival, visitors can enjoy attractive promotions on books and office stationery - discounts of 20% - 50%, buy 3 get one free, and some books are only 2,000 VND each.

In addition, there is a wide range of exciting cultural and arts programmes including magic shows, a colouring contest, an English eloquence competition, and exchange activities with domestic music band Blue Manco.  Visitors have a chance to meet with such famous domestic writers as Nguyen Nhat Anh, Do Hong Ngoc, Anh Khang, Bui Tu Luc, and Hamlet Truong who are all willing to sign autographs for their fans.

Local readers meeting with a domestic writer (Photo: Internet)

This year’s festival also offers Internet users the chance to participate via http://nhasachphuongnam.com which allows book lovers to read books online and buy their favourite books.

During yesterday’s opening day, the awards ceremony of the recent ‘Net Dep Hai Chau’ (The Beauty of Hai Chau District) photo contest took place.

Organised by the Hai Chau District People’s Committee, the event aimed to introduce the district’s beautiful landscapes and historical cultural sites, as well as the beauty of the local people in their daily lives.  It had attracted a total of 395 entries from 42 professional and amateur photographers from across the city.

Prizes were awarded to 11 local photographers.  First prize went to photographer Huynh Van Truyen for ‘Da Nang Toan Canh’ (Panoramic Views of Da Nang).  ‘An Toan Giao Thong’ (Traffic Safety) by Chau Lien, and ‘Net Dep Song Han’ (The Beauty of the Han River) by Dinh Lo were placed second and third respectively.

The 50 most outstanding entries from the contest are now on display at the book festival until 23 April.