Release Date : 10 Nov 2011
Singapore, 10 November 2011 – Book lovers of all ages were engaged in role-playing as they dressed and acted as their favourite story character in a song, dance or skit, in any of the four official languages of Singapore. This landmark event, “CosREAD” (short form for “Costume” and “Read”) was organised by the National Library Board (NLB) as part of the annual reading campaign READ! Singapore. Held at The Plaza of the National Library Building on 10 November, the CosREAD competition saw participants relive the joy of reading by role-playing characters from any of the 104 READ! Singapore stories written by international and Singapore authors over the past seven years of the campaign.
READ! Singapore 2011, which was launched on 23 June 2011, held a total of 496 programmes and activities that reached out to 60,000 participants. The campaign, themed “Transition”, aimed at reaching out to youths, and for the first time, commuters. “MobileRead”, the mobile application developed by NLB for convenient access to books anytime, anywhere, has registered about 50,000 downloads since its launch. In addition, the “Enjoying A Digital Reading Lifestyle” carnival organised by NLB and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore on 1 July 2011 raised interest in digital reading among more than 10,000 participants.
NLB also collaborated with F&N Magnolia on a new initiative to encourage reading; people could redeem specially produced READ! Singapore booklets with the purchase of fresh milk during the campaign period. 50,000 such booklets were also distributed at schools, reading clubs, and roadshows at community centres and shopping malls.
Finally, 10 new reading clubs were formed by various organisations, bringing the total number of reading clubs to 100 since the campaign started in 2005. The new reading clubs included those from schools, community clubs and government agencies (Please refer to Annex 1 for more details).
Mrs Elaine Ng, Chief Executive Officer, NLB, said, “We hope that every Singaporean can benefit from READ! Singapore. READ! Singapore 2012 will extend its reach beyond teenagers and adults to include children. We plan to expand our learning activities to include writing and storytelling. That way, readers can pen down their thoughts, share their reflections and express themselves. At the same time, they can also gain a deeper appreciation of literary arts and culture.”
READ! Singapore 2011 concluded its annual run today with an Appreciation Ceremony for partners and sponsors. Awards were presented to schools for their winning entries in the Reading Superstar Chinese Competition, jointly organised by NLB and the Committee to Promote Chinese Language Learning. The competition, held in conjunction with READ! Singapore, attracted participation by 263 students from 40 secondary schools, who submitted blogs that shared their creativity, inspired thoughts and interpretations after reading the READ! Singapore 2011 stories. Refer to www.readingsuperstar.sg for more details.
About READ! Singapore
Launched in May 2005, READ! Singapore is moving into its eighth year to promote a culture of reading fiction among Singaporeans. The highly successful initiative provides Singaporeans with the opportunity to re-discover the joy of reading, while creating a common topic for discussion and conversation within the community. READ! Singapore has since attracted more than 215,000 participants through more than 2,100 reading activities and programmes. More information on READ! Singapore can be found on www.readsingapore.sg.
About National Library Board
The National Library Board (NLB) nurtures Readers for Life, Learning Communities and a Knowledgeable Nation. Through the National Library and its network of 24 public libraries, NLB promotes reading, learning and information literacy. By forging strategic partnerships to cultivate knowledge sharing, libraries also encourage appreciation and awareness of Singapore's history through its wide range of programmes and collection of Singapore and regional content. It also uses innovative technology to provide access to its digital library resources and services. NLB was established on 1 September 1995 as a statutory board under the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA). Please visit www.nlb.gov.sg for more information.
Annex 1
New reading clubs formed in 2011: