World Reading Day

Today is World Reading Day or 世界读书日 in Chinese, and in order to honor the day all the Xinhua bookstores across the country will be offering a 15% discount on all books (excluding textbooks) in their stores. We called the Wangfujing Foreign Languages Bookstore this morning and they confirmed that all of their stock, including imported titles, are all 15% off today. As noted over at Danwei, to the rest of the world, World Reading Day is known as World Book and Copyright Day.

In other book-related news, Sina Books reports that Nobel Prize winning author Orhan Pamuk will visit China next month. Pamuk arrives in Beijing on May 21 and will tour the country over the next 10 days, including a stop over in Hangzhou where he'll attend a conference alongside Chinese author Yu Hua. Chinese translations of Pamuk's novels My Name is Red and Snow have sold well on the mainland.

Finally, we're disappointed to announce that according to the lady who answered the phone over at Ditan Park this morning, the park's regular Spring Book Fair will not be taking place this year. The fair, which usually takes place every Spring and Autumn, is a book lovers dream – you can buy books by the jin and find bizarre English titles such as A Guide to Bird Spotting in Bavaria for 20 kuai. Although Foreign language options are usually spotty, there are often some great bargains to be had on remaindered hard back art and design titles for anyone willing to rummage through big stacks. It's a pity that the book fair won't be taking place this year.

Links and Sources:
The Beijinger Directory: Bookstores
The Beijing News: 世界读书日新华书店8.5折
Danwei: But what type of books should we read?
UNESCO: World Book and Copyright Day
Xinhua: World Reading Day Image (2007)
Wikipedia: Orhan Pamuk
Sina: 帕慕克访华行程确认 5.21-5.31中国十日行
022.net: 诺贝尔文学奖得主帕慕克 “中国十日行”行程确定
Xinhua: 文学给了我什么？余华昨天在杭州开讲座