The culture of reading is one of the valuable assets which shape generation through stimulating creative thinking and promoting continuous self-improvement, beyond boosting students’ academic excellence and lifelong learning.
Building strong reading culture enables individuals to grasp the required knowledge and information, actively participate on various matters and serves as a gateway to a better understanding of ourselves and surroundings.
However, following the advent of new technologies, social media, the habit of reading is dwindling alarmingly, especially, among the young people. As many studies indicate, the young people prefer to spend more time on social media than reading books and newspapers; and they warn as such trend can lead to very poor learning outcomes.
On the other way, the ever increasing cost of papers, and the purchasing power of individual users is also compelling many individuals to unwillingly refrain from purchasing books.
To curb these, and promote effective reading habits among the young generation, creating various mechanisms is not only necessary; but also compulsory.
In this regard, expanding libraries, setting up book clubs, organizing seasonal reading programs and presenting books at reasonable price can play a central role. Hosting book fairs, in which readers can purchase multiplicities of books at the cheapest price, can also be taken as favorable platforms to cultivating a reading habit among the people.
As part of this effort, the Addis Ababa University (AAU) had recently organized its annual Research, Job and Book Fairs Week spanned for four days (9th -12th of May 2022). The fair was organized under the theme of “Centers of Excellence as Drivers of Change” led by Center for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa), which is one of the centers of excellence located at College of Health Sciences (CHS).
Currently, the Capital Addis Ababa is readying itself to host the first-of-its-kind book fair and sales event. As TSEHAI Publishers, organizer of the event announced, the book fair and sales event, which would be staged by the renowned international book fair companies, Big Bad Wolf Books and Sharjah International Book Fair, at the beginning of the New Year, would enable Ethiopians to buy books which are purchased through online shopping platforms in person with affordable prices.
What is more, the platform allows book stores to access the most expensive and sought-after global publications at huge discounts. Over one million books are expected to be sold in ten days with huge discounts, the Publishers remarked.
On his social media page, Elias Wondimu CEO of TSEHAI Publishers said that as Ethiopia’s economic challenges continue to increase, its access to global knowledge is decreasing tremendously. To curb this challenge, TSEHAI has partnered with the two global leaders in the book industry: The Sharjah Book Authority from the U.A.E. that is working to bring one billion books to the Middle Eastern and African countries and the Big Bad Wolf Books, the largest bookseller in the world.
As to him, Ethiopia is one of the countries that is being considered among Egypt, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to be the first country in Africa to host the book fair, which will bring one million books into the country.
Speaking to local media, Elias said that the celebrated companies are preparing to organize the book fair in Addis Ababa for the first time in Africa.
TSEHAI Publishers has been contributing its part to improve the publishing industry in Ethiopia by publishing various books that depict the historical, political, economic and cultural issues of the country and bringing international knowledge, the CEO said.
As part of its mission, the company has recently signed agreement with two celebrated book fairs in the world with a view to enabling Ethiopians access various books at reasonable price.
Founder of Big Bad Wolf Books, Andrew Yap and Sharjah Books Fair Head Mohammad Nur have conducted a visit in Ethiopia organized by Tsehay Publishers to see the opportunities in publishing industry in the country.
The heads of Big Bad Wolf and Sharjah were able to observe the fact that there are many readers despite lack of access to books in Ethiopia.
Elias stated that the companies have planned to supply one billion books across Africa and the Middle East over the next five years, noting that one million books were sold in UAE few months ago.
BY STAFF REPORTER
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 14 JUNE 2022
