Not only encouraging reading, this year's programs emphasize the transformation of reading culture in the digital age, when knowledge spreads strongly outside the paper.
Changing the way reading culture exists
Observing closely the publishing life and the movement of the book market, another reality can be seen: Books are still being newly printed regularly, translated books are constantly appearing, many genres coexist and find their own readers.
Poet Tran Dang Khoa commented: "The book market is still operating vibrantly. At bookstores, the number of books is very abundant. Many international works that have just been released or won major awards have been immediately translated and published in Vietnam, with the participation of many different publishing units. A market can only maintain such a publishing pace when there are still readers".
In addition to the bookstore space, reading today also appears in many other ways. A book can be known through a short video, introduction or quote spreading on social networks. As the road to books becomes more diverse, reading is no longer a single form.
Sharing the same view, poet Nguyen Phong Viet also acknowledged that the need to read is still clearly present, just changing the way of expression. According to him, young people today may no longer spend hours for a book, but still come into contact with words in many ways: Reading short paragraphs, listening to audiobooks, or finding a book from online suggestions.
Dismatch in reading habits and the problem of the book market
Poet Tran Dang Khoa pointed out a thought-provoking reality: "Students today only study according to the program at school, which is already too burdensome. Children do not have much time to read other books." Learning pressure reduces reading outside the program, reducing opportunities to access diverse knowledge sources.
In the current publishing structure, textbooks and curriculum account for about 70-80%. According to poet Nguyen Phong Viet, this figure shows a significant imbalance between book genres. When the market strongly leans towards books serving formal education, other genres such as literature, research, life skills or in-depth books are difficult to develop commensurately, thereby limiting the diversity of reading choices.
The difference in structure also directly affects the lives of book publishers. Poet Nguyen Phong Viet shared: "For authors in other genres, revenue from book copyright is very low. When the number of popular prints is only about 1,000-2,000 copies, with a royalty rate of 8-10% of the cover price.
Composition in non-educational fields has not brought stable revenue, making it difficult for many authors to wholeheartedly invest in long-term projects. When economic conditions are not guaranteed, the quality and depth of works are also difficult to maintain sustainably.
From another perspective, the change in content reception also contributes to increasing this mismatch. Today's readers can access information faster through excerpts, summaries or short content on social networks such as Tiktok, Facebook, YouTube... However, reading in small pieces makes the process of knowledge reception loose, difficult to accumulate and lacks depth.
From those inadequacies, the development of reading culture cannot only be placed on the shoulders of readers, but requires the participation of many parties. Poet Nguyen Phong Viet proposed that schools should have more reading and book commentary sessions to increase students' reading needs.
He believes that there needs to be a mechanism to minimize fake and pirated books, increase royalties for authors and reduce book making costs, helping valuable books reach readers at reasonable prices, thereby creating a foundation for a sustainable market development.
