3-day book exhibition begins in Balkh

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): A three-day book exhibition has been launched by the Information and Culture Department in northern Balkh province to mark the Book Reading Week, an official said on Monday.

At a ceremony in this regard, Information and Culture director Ata Mohammad Saho said the exhibition was organized with support of publishers and booksellers, on the occasion of Book Reading Week and to promote the culture of reading and will last for three days.

Nearly 20 publishing houses and booksellers participated in the exhibition, displaying over book 10,000 titles, he added.

Some officials from publishing associations welcomed the holding of such exhibitions and considered them important for promoting the culture of reading.

Abdullah Hanafi, head of a publishing association, said the society was connected to books and reading books could be beneficial for intellectual development of youths.

The government should support publishing societies so they could offer good, quality books to the market, Hanafi added.

He asked officials of the Information and Culture Department to provide a special space for publishing associations so they could permanently display books.

Fawad Alami, a participant, welcomed the event and explained organizing book exhibitions was beneficial for promoting the culture of reading.

Alami urged officials to expand such book exhibitions to districts and villages in addition to the city, so people could become familiar with the culture of reading books.

According to the Department, currently there are 60 government and private libraries and bookstores in the province and about 15 of which are operating in different districts.

hz/ma