Readers at the Hong Kong Book Fair Photo: IC

Shopping around booths at the Hong Kong Book Fair, Clement Leung was searching the halls for a Belgian children's book for his grandson.

"Reading books from around the world can further broaden our horizons," said the 65-year-old, who had worked in the education sector before retiring and was a regular of the annual event.

"This is also a good way for us to learn more about other people's culture, and most importantly, many of the foreign books have got English versions," he added.

Organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the largest annual literary fest in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), features publications and writers from different countries and regions.

On the first floor of the fair, booths set up by various consulates in Hong Kong, present a wide range of books and related products to help the public get a better understanding of their various cultures.

Maria Jose, a Spanish teacher in Hong Kong, was enthusiastically introducing Spanish tourism publications and different levels of Spanish learning materials to visitors.

"I'm afraid there is only a few Spanish book stores in Hong Kong and we are happy to be here to tell people more about our language," she told the Xinhua News Agency, saying that it was the fifth year that the Consulate General of Spain in Hong Kong joined the fair. 

English books were especially popular among readers. Simplified versions of Sherlock Holmes and Shakespeare collections for young people were on sale for a limited number every day. The collections went out of stock in no time.

The original price of a set of the Sherlock Holmes children's collection costing 69.9 pounds ($87), was selling at $HK 100 ($12.8) at the fair.

"We came here for some English books because they are good deals," said a mother of two boys. 

She bought some second-hand English titles at HK$ 10 each.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the book fair was more than just a platform for trading books. 

It also presented a smorgasbord of cultural activities, including seminars from renowned writers, art gallery exhibitions and storytelling sessions for kids.

The theme for this year's book fair is "Sci-Fi and Mystery," with the tagline "Reading the World, When Fantasy Meets Reality" to encourage readers to explore these fascinating literary genres.

"When reading a book, you don't simply enjoy it, but you can also gain new insights from it," French science-fiction writer Bernard Werber said at a sharing session at the book fair on Sunday evening.

With over 30 million books sold, Werber is one of France's most widely read authors and his work is translated all over the world.

Werber encouraged the audience to spend time to explore nature. 

"Listening to the sound of waves, strolling along the woods and observing insects in a garden," he said, adding that all these activities can help stimulate one's imagination.

"Hong Kong is an international, culturally diverse place," Chan Man Hung, former president of the Sino United Publishing (Holdings) Ltd, a cross-regional publishing conglomerate based in Hong Kong said earlier in an interview with Xinhua. 

"Such an environment has enabled people to read bilingually, Chinese and English, which is rare in the world," he noted.

Bilingual reading is common among children in Hong Kong and English books in local bookstores take up around 20 percent of the total number of books in general, which is quite high, Chan added.  


Newspaper headline: ‘Reading the World’