BIG BAD WOLF BOOK SALE

After touring Lahore, the biggest book sale in Asia comes to Karachi to cater to the largest market in Pakistan. In a press conference, founder Andrew Yap and organiser for Karachi, Awais Akhtar Butt, talk to the media about bringing the one-of-a-kind book sale to the metropolis. Yap said that understanding the daily schedules of everyday life and to reach the market as a whole taking in account commute, timings, other arrangements, the sale is premeditatedly decided to stay open 24 hours. The Book Sale will open its gates to the public on 26th July at 9 am and will be closing on 5th August at 11:59pm at Expo Center Hall 5, after serving for 11 days consecutively. Furthermore, the sale offers 50 to 90 per cent discounts on all books across all genres in English and Urdu. Continuing, Yap said, it’s about the book buying experience that he aims to cater to, people coming from afar without feeling overwhelmed or sitting it out because of time restriction.

The Sale also believes in “changing the world one book at a time” and in efforts to do so, they founded the Corporate Social Responsibility arm cleverly named “Red Readerhood”. Encouraging visitors to donate books and collaborating with local NGOs, the Sale spreads knowledge in the form of books to the masses that cannot afford purchasing. Visitors can drop off their donations at a stall at the venue.

The most interesting facet of the press conference was the introduction of Augmented Reality (AR) books, less cleverly named “Magical Books”. These literally come to life; point the smartphone or tablet’s camera on the book and the characters “wake up” and narrate the story to you, in a skit-like manner. It had an uncanny resemblance to science-fiction movies we have watched growing up and it certainly is in the right direction to revolutionise teaching and reading for children. In conversation with Andrew, I asked him about the future of AR books and he said they are only available in 12 titles for ages 1 – 5 at present and have been around for only a year. Plans are to delve into these further for older age groups in multiple genres. At present, the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is the only retailer for Magical Books in Asia.

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