Welcome to Bookerville!

THE upcoming Putrajaya International Book Fair (PIBF) promises to transport visitors to a magical book town, “Bookerville”.

Modelled on the concept of a theme park, Bookerville will host the fair from March 19 to 23 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre with the aim of providing an educational and entertaining experience for visitors.

The event will feature more than five million books for sale at attractive prices, laid out in two exhibition halls spanning over 5,500sqm (60,000 square feet).

Visitors can also look forward to the International Storytelling Festival, where storytellers from around the region will conduct workshops and stage performances. There will also be book talks and celebrity appearances as well as role play activities by Kidzania and gaming challenges for the young ones.

In addition to that, PIBF will present awards to the winners of the MPH Best of 2013 titles. Through a careful selection process, MPH has selected 20 bestselling titles in six categories: English non-fiction and business titles and adult and young adult fiction, as well as Malay fiction and non-fiction. The author of the top-selling title in each category will receive the MPH Best of 2013 award.

For a full list of the MPH Best of 2013 titles, go to mphonline. com; MPH Bookstores is offering the titles in a special promotion that gives readers a 50% discount when they purchase a second copy of any MPH Best of 2013 title from now until Feb 16, 2014, at all MPH Bookstores nationwide.

MPH will also be announcing the winners of the Top Novelis Mutiara Minda contest at the fair. The nationwide contest started in December last year to encourage aspiring Malay writers to send in their manuscripts. The top three winners will have their novels published by MPH Group Publishing.

To ease the way of bookworms eager to visit Bookerville, the PIBF Privilege Pass was introduced at the press conference held last Tuesday to announce the fair.

The pass enables visitors to enjoy exclusive offers during the fair, including a 30% discount on standard KLIA Transit fares. You can take the KLIA Transit to Putrajaya Sentral and avoid the hassle of traffic; Nadi Putra will also be offering free bus services to PIBF visitors at selected pickup points in Putrajaya.

Privilege pass holders can also enjoy discounts on food and beverage at the convention centre, special hotel rates at the nearby Putrajaya Shangri-La, and more. The privilege pass will be available at all MPH outlets in the Klang Valley from March 1.