Over a million English books of almost every genre – fiction, non-fiction, self-help, business, and others – will arrive in Cambodia early next year for the world’s biggest book sale, announced Malaysian home-grown book fair, Big Bad Wolf Books.

In a press release, the book fair said over the past decade, Big Bad Wolf Books had organised some of the largest book sales in the world.

“Book lovers in Phnom Penh will now be able to enjoy an affordable book-hunting experience with 50 to 90 per cent discounts from the recommended retail price at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale Phnom Penh 2020,” said the press release.

The sale will be open to the public for 12 consecutive days, from 9am to 12am, on January 9-20 at the capital’s Borey Rung Reung Market in Chroy Changvar district.

Big Bad Wolf Books has committed to jump-starting a culture of reading in the Kingdom by bringing affordable English-language books within everyone’s reach.

Its co-founder Jacqueline Ng said that in 2016, it took the opportunity to change the world one book at a time by making them more affordable.

“When we first started the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in Malaysia in 2009, our mission was the single-minded pursuit of instilling a reading habit by providing people access to affordable and quality English books.

“Over the years, the book fair evolved and we realised that to cultivate the reading habit around the world and build a new generation of readers, we needed to organise book sales internationally.

“Books have the power to inspire and empower people with knowledge, and we are providing them with this through the book fair,” Ng said.

This year, she said, book fairs were organised in 32 cities across 10 countries.

Ng predicted the Magical Book Series composed of Augmented Reality books for children will be the most sought-after ones at the fair as these use cutting-edge technology to revolutionise reading for today’s generation, “allowing children to interact, learn and read all at the same time”.

Ouk Chandara, the spokesman of the upcoming book fair, said the event would provide Cambodians with the opportunity to gain the experience of buying English-language books of good quality at an affordable price.

“It is very important to learn a new language and instil a reading habit in our children from a young age so that they can grow to become more knowledgeable people,” he said.