VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Van Binh Street adjacent to the iconic Central Post Office building in downtown HCMC will be developed into a location where people can find book stands and attend publishing sector events from early next month.

Illustrative image -- Photo: SGGP

Quach Thu Nguyet, former director of Tre Publishing House, said it is possible that it could be called “Nguyen Van Binh book street.”

Previously, Nguyet and the HCMC representative office of the Vietnam Publishers Association drew up a project to set up Nguyen Van Binh book street and sent it to the city’s Department of Information and Communications, which then reported to the city government.

Vice chairman of the city Hua Ngoc Thuan recently announced the city’s approval of the project, allowing the department to build the book street and operate it stably in long term.

The city’s government also requested the department to coordinate with relevant agencies to open the book street from October 3.

Around a year ago, the idea to build a book street for HCMC came from Nguyet and several experts in the publishing sector in hopes of providing a space for businesses in the sector to organize events and present products, and a cultural space for book enthusiasts.

The project was piloted for four days from April 18 to 24 on the occasion of the second Vietnam Book Day and received positive responses from readers and publishers.

During the event, a conference was held to collect opinions about the project from enterprises and cultural experts, with most backing the project but some casting doubt on business efficiency.

However, only a few days after the city’s government announced to approve the project, many publishers and distributors have registered for a slot at the book street, Nguyet said.

In line with the project, the 140-meter Nguyen Van Binh Street will feature 19 book stalls, two book cafés and one for cultural events.

In case the number of registrations is higher than that of stalls planned for the street, the management will choose those having made significant contributions to developing the reading culture and meeting the preset standards, she added.

In the meantime, Nguyet, Le Hoang, vice chairman of the Vietnam Publishers Association and head of the association’s representative office in HCMC, and Le Thai Hy, director of the city’s Department of Information and Communications, are members of the management board for the book street.