The culture of reading in Cape Verde
After ten years or more, the initiative “The Great Book Fair” returns to the capital city with strength, commitment and good demand. During the days that the fair was available, you could visit the 24 stands with around 40,000 books available in the city of Praia.
And from the books that made up the fair, you could see a variety of books, from poetry, history, romance, psychology, cooking, law, politics, science fiction, short stories and much more, at various discounts.
Alongside the fair, there was also the publication of new books, poetry recitations, book presentations and various other activities such as games, debates, terraces, catering and a children’s area. which recently came to an end at the end of this month and which yielded more than 2,000 books sold, mainly for children and young adults.
The big book fair is an initiative that took place within the framework of cooperation between Portugal and Cape Verde, in the field of promoting books and reading. The “Ministry of Culture and Creative Industries, through the Cape Verde National Library Institute, held this fair in order to stimulate Cape Verdeans’ love of reading, especially among students and young people, in order to increase literacy and knowledge, and naturally reduce ignorance among the country’s large youth population.
One of the great novelties of the fair was the focus on technical and academic books, as well as the creation of publishing lines and local initiatives and the presence of both established and emerging authors.
Schools, cultural associations were also involved, as was the entire program, which this year also included the participation of various publishers, booksellers and specialized institutions. So you could say that it was a unique opportunity to buy specialized books at an extraordinary price and to spend time with writers and experts from the book industry.
Investments were also made with the aim of once again boosting the book economy, as well as stimulating the book market, encouraging reading in Portuguese and democratizing access to books for the Cape Verdean population.
It should be said that this commitment to this type of initiative is based on the priority given in the Portugal-Cape Verde strategic cooperation program, 2022-2026, which emphasizes the development of policies to promote libraries, archives and artistic or literary creation, as well as the implementation of the National Reading Plan. All this with a view to “imprinting” a new dynamic on the book market in Cape Verde.
During the fair, people of all ages attended this initiative, including the Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, Abrão Vicente, President of Culture and Creative Industries, and the President of the National Assembly, Austelino Correia.
It’s worth saying that this initiative also intends to extend the great book fair to other islands, and the organization is therefore currently preparing to start with the islands of Sal, Brava, Fogo, São Vicente and Santo Antão.
