The National Book Festival, which is a solemn celebration that attracts not only citizens of the capital city, but also publishers, writers, and publishing agencies from foreign countries, took place on May 18-20. This year, the festival’s official program was available in Mongolian and English, with simultaneous translation provided for guests, highlighting the growing international importance of the National Book Festival.

Also, representatives from Andrew Nurnberg Associates and Introtema Copyright and Translation Agency arrived with full scholarships as part of the Fellowship Program provided by the “Nomiin Soyolt Yertunts” NGO. The Fellowship Program is aimed at connecting Mongolian publishers with international publishing houses and intermediary agencies, introducing the Mongolian book market to the world, and creating opportunities for Mongolian authors to offer their works to foreign publishing houses.

During the book festival, participants had the opportunity for multifaceted interactions, including meeting representatives of the Editors’ Club, seeking advice from an intellectual property lawyer, and collaborating with bookstores. Highlights of the festival include the Award Ceremony of the “Book’s Best Friend” named after the Speaker of the Parliament, and the “Book Grant” named after the Governor of the Capital City and the Mayor of Ulaanbaatar, to support the culture of reading. Additionally, attendees had enjoyed art performances, new book launches, the introduction of the “50 Facts About Animals” Book, fun games, flash mobs, and a variety of other exciting activities initiated by youth.

Furthermore, the General Election Committee also participated in the book festival, decorated their booths, filled out voting forms for the public and gave them a basic understanding of elections. This year’s parliamentary elections will be held in enlarged constituencies and with a mixed system, therefore filling out the ballot in advance was a great advantage especially for those who are voting for the first time.

In addition, based on the survey, it is said that every year 93 percent of all attendees buy some types of book at the festival. Approximately, students make up 49 percent of the all attendees, while 40 percent of them are university students, which illustrates the interest of youth in book reading. Moreover, books by Kazakh artists were presented by models of Daginas agency. It was just one of the many unique events organized as part of the Book Festival.