Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: A three-day ‘Capital Book Fair’ began at Art and Craft Village in Islamabad on Saturday to encourage book reading habits among the young generation.
Arranged in collaboration with Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad and the Department of Libraries, the book fair offers various books at discounted prices.
Food stalls, kids’ play areas, and a complete entertainment program are also part of the festival.
The book fair offers a variety of books at discounted prices. The objectives behind arranging this book fair are to revive the book-reading habit among the general public, especially youth, preserve our literary and cultural heritage, and bring back the culture of the book in society.
Book lovers, especially students and researchers belonging to the twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad, are excited about the book fair to quench their thirst for knowledge.
Book fair for book lovers
Nazish Abbasi, a school teacher, and research scholar, while sharing her views, said that, unfortunately, the culture of reading books was almost becoming non-existent “in our society due to many reasons, including high prices of books and easy access to books on the internet.”
She said that technological advancements and price reductions of internet packages had increased “our screen time, and we almost forget the feel of the book, which is not a healthy trend for society.”
Shazia Sadiq, a book lover, said that the declining trend of book-reading among the young generation and excessive internet use was a matter of concern for the whole society.
She lauded the libraries department’s efforts to promote book culture. She urged the parents and educational institutions to bring their children to this book fair and inculcate book reading habits in them.
