World’s Biggest Book Sale Set to Arrive in Yangon

By Lwin Mar Htun 7 January 2019

A traveling book sale billed as the world’s largest, Big Bad Wolf Books, is scheduled to be held in Yangon for the first time from Jan. 18-28. The sale will be held at the Myanmar Event Park (MEP) on the Min Dhamma.

Famous for being open round the clock, the event will run non-stop, 24 hours a day for 11 days, offering about 1 million books at discounts of 50 to 90 percent.

Big Bad Wolf Books was launched in Malaysia in 2009 by Andrew Yap and Jacqueline Ng. It has been brought to Yangon by U Myo Aung, director of the Ready to Read Myanmar organization.

“When I learned about the Big Bad Wolf Books sale through a friend and met with the founders, I realized that this is something I must introduce to Myanmar. I’ve been dreaming of this for a long time,” U Myo Aung told The Irrawaddy.

Attending the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in Bangkok, Thailand last year only confirmed U Myo Aung’s belief that Myanmar needed to host the event, as it is a growing country whose people need encouragement to develop their proficiency in reading English, which he said was the language that connects the world.

“This is the first-ever 24-hour book sale in Myanmar. All the books are original and brand new,” he added.

The main purpose of this book sale, according to U Myo Aung, is to allow “more people in Myanmar to read English-language books at very affordable prices. In Myanmar, we have few bookshops selling English-language books, and most of them are expensive. That’s why I want to this event to happen; there will be a selection of books for all reading levels.”

He added, “We hope to create a new generation of readers, and also hope it contributes to the improvement of English literacy rates in Myanmar.”

At the event, booklovers will find a wide offering of titles in various genres ranging from romance, science fiction, crime, thriller, business and self-help to cookbooks, architecture books and more.

For children, there will be storybooks, activity books, audio books, picture books, coloring books and much more.

“We will have [only a limited selection of] books about religion and politics. We are targeting young adults and kids to encourage them to read more English-language books,” U Myo Aung said.

Big Bad Wolf Books is known for being Asia’s biggest market for augmented reality (AR) books, and is the exclusive seller of Little Hippo AR books.

So far, Big Bad Wolf Books sales have been held in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.

“We also plan to accept books from donors at the sale. Some people want to buy books [in exchange for donating their] libraries. So, we will accept their books and have a dedicated counter for that,” U Myo Aung said.

Big Bad Wolf Books founder Yap said, “Reading can enhance imagination and creative thinking, vocabulary and overall communication skills. It is very important for children and young adults to get exposed to books and make reading a habit.”

He added that, “Parents should encourage their young ones to read more … as reading is a habit that should be instilled from a young age.”

Ahead of opening day, a special VIP Day will be held on Jan. 17. Hundreds of tickets for this will be given away via contests on Big Bad Wolf Books Myanmar’s social media pages.

This is a major opportunity for booklovers; and as a 24-hour sale you can attend at any hour of the day or night.