Young Writers' Debut competition winner Ricky Lai talks about when he wrote a book so students know that being a writer isn't just a dream
The SHKP Reading Club wishes everyone a fruitful Year of the Monkey. The SHKP Reading Club's many creative initiatives over the past year included a reward scheme in schools, cultural exchanges and a book donation programme for varied groups such as students, youth and the underprivileged. The events were welcomed enthusiastically and more people were drawn to the joy of reading.
The Read and Share programme for primary students helped schools set up interesting, inspirational activities like seminars with past Young Writers' Debut Competition winners talking about their experience of writing books to kindle reading interest in children. And there were creative workshops with picture book authors explaining the skills and preparation needed to make this type of work. About 60 primary schools joined the programme to foster reading habits in students and encourage them to pass on knowledge from books and the fun of reading to family and friends.
Another SHKP Reading Club initiative was a collaboration with AFS Intercultural Exchanges and the Hong Kong Playground Association to stage Explore the World cultural exchanges between underprivileged children, young volunteers and exchange students from various countries. About 270 young people walked through Central, Yau Ma Tei, Wong Tai Sin, Tsing Yi and other areas to gain a deeper understanding about each other's lives and cultures and develop an interest in literature in other languages through reading and stimulating activities. Explore the World will continue bringing more people closer to different parts of Hong Kong to spur interest in reading about the territory in 2016.
The popular Recycle Your Read book donation scheme collected over 44,000 volumes from across Hong Kong in a ten-month period. The books are being delivered to the needy by social welfare agencies to engage more people in the pleasure of reading after volunteers sort them by category. The scheme was a joint effort by the SHKP Reading Club and the World Green Organisation.
