ISLAMABAD: Bookay, an online platform, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Sunday with a special event aimed at fostering reading culture among all groups.
As the clouds gathered above, the event titled ‘There’s Something on Sunday (TSOS)’, pulled in a larger crowd of readers with their choice of various genres.
According to a statement, Bookay connected readers and writers from across Pakistan and had a community impact globally. Held at Hotspot Cafe, the highlight of the event was the inauguration of the Bookay Library, a unique initiative that allowed book lovers to borrow books from a wide collection of titles for a nominal security fee of Rs200.
The library featured books from various genres, languages and formats, catering to the needs and preferences of different readers.
“Bookay has been around for 10 years; through TSOS we want to help literary clubs and reading communities across Pakistan connect with one another and find new audience,” said Bookay founder Jahandad Khan.
“In the long-term we have envisioned Bookay having a permanent physical space that would allow such gatherings to take place and encourage the growth of literature in the country,” said Co-Founder Bookay Hasan Saeed.
The event featured engaging discussions on topics such as fantasy literature, climate change and its impact on storytelling, and the role of books in children’s education and development. The participants shared their insights, opinions and experiences on these issues, and also interacted with some of the authors and moderators from the Bookay community.
“This is an excellent activity to promote learning and reading culture in Pakistan. It was great to see multiple book reading communities come together with Bookay for the love of storytelling. We can’t wait to see many more events like this one,” Naveed Iftikhar, another participant at the event.
“Being cognizant of the disruptions caused by climate change, I thought of discussing ‘Earth Transformed’ by Peter Frankopen, which looks at climate change from a historical perspective, tracing the contours of the relationship between humans and the natural world. Throughout our discussion and interaction, I could not help but notice how the thematic areas like food security, urbanization, trade, globalization and spread of diseases dominating the current discourse have been part of our shared history,” said Wajeeha Riaz, a parliamentary staff working on climate change.
The event concluded with a fun-filled session for kids, where they enjoyed reading stories, playing games and learning new skills.
Bookay is an online community that was launched in 2013, with the vision of promoting reading culture and supporting local authors in Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2023