Book fairs encourage reading habits among people, says French envoy

Participants were engrossed in classics of both Urdu and English literature

FAISALABAD: Organising book fairs in educational institutes is an encouraging move towards boosting up reading habits among the people. There is a need to promote book reading at all levels.

This was said by French Ambassador to Pakistan Martine Dorance during her visit to University of Agriculture, Faisalabad’s 19th book fair that opened on Monday.

UAF Vice-Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan accompanied the ambassador. The fair comprises 30 stalls and a collection of more than 50,000 books that are offered at subsidised rates to the visitors.

The fair consists of a vast range of printed material ranging from arts, science, agriculture, engineering; literature as well as Islamic books.

The participants were engrossed by classics of both Urdu and English literature.  technical manuals, dictionaries and books dealing with computer science, business management and accounting.

On the occasion, Martine Dorance   said, “The youth are glued to their cell phones whereas book reading habits are decreasing day by day.”

Meanwhile, a visitor Zainab said she visited the fair to get books on literature. She said she used to wait for such events to fulfill her book reading habit.

Another visitor Muhammad Ali said, “It is very unfortunate that youth do not read the books and the trend is declining. Holding such fairs will promote the tendency of book reading.”

Library Principal Officer Dr Muhammad Aslam, deans, French Higher Education Attaché Sebastien Cartier, Cooperation Attaché Olivier Huynh-Van  and Philippe Garnier  attended the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2017.