Book Fair inspires a book village
Reading culture: Children looking through a book at the Brunei Book Fair 2007 at the Hassanal Bolkiah Indoor Stadium, Berakas. Picture: Fahmi Abas
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
TODAY , the biggest book festival in this country officially ends. Approximately 45 publishers or companies, both local and from several Asean countries, exposed the Bruneian public to their products at 98 booths.
Exhibitors, observers and visitors of all ages believed the level of public enthusiasm was the highest so far. Bearing the theme "Buku Memperkasa Bangsa" (Books Empower the Nation), the ten-day Brunei Book Fair 2007 was organised by the Language and Literature Bureau at the Hassanal Bolkiah Indoor Stadium, Berakas.
The immediate response to the passing event is: Why don't we make it a permanent part of Brunei's life? A book village. Wouldn't this empower the nation further? Wouldn't people, including foreigners, find such a village - developed to become the centre of the nation's "bookhood" - to be both beneficial and interesting? Especially if the village could prove to be a healthy environment for family leisure time while turning itself into a cultural centre of knowledge and intellectual pursuits for the nation.
The layout of the village, in this writer's vision, would be designed in accordance to the structure of knowledge in Islam which forms three-layered circles.
The first circle in the centre would be a beautiful masjid surrounded by gardens and bookshops providing products in relation to Al-Qur'an and books in Sunnah (the life tradition of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him).
During the Brunei Book Fair 2007 copies of Al-Qur'an and its translations, Al-Qur'an computer software and Al-Qur'an recital in CDs and VCDs were among the best selling products in several booths.
Syamsul Hadi from Bahr Enterprise which provided Islamic book and software said he was overwhelmed by public enthusiasm.
The second circle of our book village would be bookshops that concentrate in providing books and products of fardu 'ain (the obligatory) knowledge for every Muslim individual, such as Islamic sciences, Arabic language, elements of Islamic civilisation, comparative studies of religions etc.
Solitude Books appeared at three booths as one of the best with the most comprehensive display of fardhu 'ain books in English and Arabic imported from the Middle East, Europe and United States, for all ages.
The third, outer, circle of our book village would be bookshops that provide people with the books and products of fardu kifayah (optional) knowledge for Muslims in order to develop public welfare such as medicine, languages and literature, arts and culture, entertainment, economics, science and technology, history and politics, or leisure, sports, novel, comics and hobby.
A village certainly needs a council to professionally manage and develop the milieu to become a national centre for book and reading culture.
Brunei is already famous for its frequent launch of new cars. This book village can be expected to introduce a new habit for the nation where every week, new book launching would take place amidst great cheers and welcome. The development and preservation of intellectual tradition should be better appreciated than that of material tradition.
The village will regularly hold attractive book-related events for adults, young adults, teenagers and children. There will always be storytelling time in every bookshop. Hundreds of game can also be developed from books. This will protect our children from turning into couch potatoes nursing on cable tv programs and video games.
Self-development programmes deriving from books can be provided at young adults and teenagers sections. Psychologists with strong Islamic worldview would help supervise the programmes and develop them as attractively as possible. In adults section, there would always be motivational programs to keep seeking knowledge.
We can always learn from Hay-on-Wye, a small town in Wales, Great Britain. Since 1961 it transformed to be an international booktown. Loaded with dozens of bookshop of various interests, there are also book racks at every corner of the town. Nearby the public toilet, town parks, everywhere one can find bookshelves providing free books as well as books for sale.
Beside the legendary Hay-on-Wye, we can also learn from the experiences of dozens of book towns around the world. Among them are Redu, in Belgium (since 1984); Be{aac}cherel, France (1988); Mundal, Fjrland, Norway (1995); Wigtown, Scotland (1997); and Zossen-Wunsdorf, Germany (1997).
Our neighbours have Kampung Buku Langkawi in Malaysia (since 1997); and Indonesia has Kwitang book market in Jakarta and Palasari in Bandung, which began operating half a century ago.
A book village in Brunei would become a great centre of reading culture and knowledge tradition. Writers and storytellers from around the world can be invited to share their experiences and works.
After the Book Fair, will the book village soon appear? Who dares to initiate? The Brunei Times
Exhibitors, observers and visitors of all ages believed the level of public enthusiasm was the highest so far. Bearing the theme "Buku Memperkasa Bangsa" (Books Empower the Nation), the ten-day Brunei Book Fair 2007 was organised by the Language and Literature Bureau at the Hassanal Bolkiah Indoor Stadium, Berakas.
The immediate response to the passing event is: Why don't we make it a permanent part of Brunei's life? A book village. Wouldn't this empower the nation further? Wouldn't people, including foreigners, find such a village - developed to become the centre of the nation's "bookhood" - to be both beneficial and interesting? Especially if the village could prove to be a healthy environment for family leisure time while turning itself into a cultural centre of knowledge and intellectual pursuits for the nation.
The layout of the village, in this writer's vision, would be designed in accordance to the structure of knowledge in Islam which forms three-layered circles.
The first circle in the centre would be a beautiful masjid surrounded by gardens and bookshops providing products in relation to Al-Qur'an and books in Sunnah (the life tradition of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him).
During the Brunei Book Fair 2007 copies of Al-Qur'an and its translations, Al-Qur'an computer software and Al-Qur'an recital in CDs and VCDs were among the best selling products in several booths.
Syamsul Hadi from Bahr Enterprise which provided Islamic book and software said he was overwhelmed by public enthusiasm.
The second circle of our book village would be bookshops that concentrate in providing books and products of fardu 'ain (the obligatory) knowledge for every Muslim individual, such as Islamic sciences, Arabic language, elements of Islamic civilisation, comparative studies of religions etc.
Solitude Books appeared at three booths as one of the best with the most comprehensive display of fardhu 'ain books in English and Arabic imported from the Middle East, Europe and United States, for all ages.
The third, outer, circle of our book village would be bookshops that provide people with the books and products of fardu kifayah (optional) knowledge for Muslims in order to develop public welfare such as medicine, languages and literature, arts and culture, entertainment, economics, science and technology, history and politics, or leisure, sports, novel, comics and hobby.
A village certainly needs a council to professionally manage and develop the milieu to become a national centre for book and reading culture.
Brunei is already famous for its frequent launch of new cars. This book village can be expected to introduce a new habit for the nation where every week, new book launching would take place amidst great cheers and welcome. The development and preservation of intellectual tradition should be better appreciated than that of material tradition.
The village will regularly hold attractive book-related events for adults, young adults, teenagers and children. There will always be storytelling time in every bookshop. Hundreds of game can also be developed from books. This will protect our children from turning into couch potatoes nursing on cable tv programs and video games.
Self-development programmes deriving from books can be provided at young adults and teenagers sections. Psychologists with strong Islamic worldview would help supervise the programmes and develop them as attractively as possible. In adults section, there would always be motivational programs to keep seeking knowledge.
We can always learn from Hay-on-Wye, a small town in Wales, Great Britain. Since 1961 it transformed to be an international booktown. Loaded with dozens of bookshop of various interests, there are also book racks at every corner of the town. Nearby the public toilet, town parks, everywhere one can find bookshelves providing free books as well as books for sale.
Beside the legendary Hay-on-Wye, we can also learn from the experiences of dozens of book towns around the world. Among them are Redu, in Belgium (since 1984); Be{aac}cherel, France (1988); Mundal, Fjrland, Norway (1995); Wigtown, Scotland (1997); and Zossen-Wunsdorf, Germany (1997).
Our neighbours have Kampung Buku Langkawi in Malaysia (since 1997); and Indonesia has Kwitang book market in Jakarta and Palasari in Bandung, which began operating half a century ago.
A book village in Brunei would become a great centre of reading culture and knowledge tradition. Writers and storytellers from around the world can be invited to share their experiences and works.
After the Book Fair, will the book village soon appear? Who dares to initiate? The Brunei Times
Business Besides Oil
