The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) announced in a statement yesterday that its Macao Reading Festival 2025 is slated to take place from December 5 to 7 at the Taipa Houses complex, which will feature an outdoor library, a coffee market, workshops, and attractions inspired by the 15th National Games which concluded last Friday.
Organised in order to strengthen Macau’s development as a “City of Reading”, this year’s festival will run from 5 to 10 p.m. on the first day, and from 3 to 10 p.m. on the next two days, the statement said.
Themed “Reading Vacation”, the event combines reading, arts and leisure while aiming to extend the festive atmosphere of the 15th National Games and the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities (NGD), the statement added.
The programme will include an “Outdoor Library”, an “Art and Cultural Book Fair”, a “Sky Cinema”, a raft of cultural performances, a “Café and Cultural and Creative Market”, and themed areas such as the “Chill Zone” and “Serenity Corner”. Two libraries from elsewhere in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) have been invited to host booths there, aiming to boost cultural exchange between Macau and Guangdong.
The National Games’ mascots “Xiyangyang” (“Joyful”) and “Lerongrong” (“Happy Harmony”) will appear onsite for photo opportunities, alongside photo installations and a lucky draw, the statement said, adding that a series of themed activities will also debut, including the “Book Travellers” shared reading activity, the “Recharge Your Spirit” workshop, and the “Family Fairy Tale Cosplay Challenge”, in which registered families will compete onstage as storybook characters.
According to the statement, the pre-event programming begins on November 30 with the lecture “Self-Upgrade Through Reading: The Life Hacker’s Journey”, presented by the Macau Science Centre (MSC).
Additionally, the bureau and Hong Kong Public Libraries will co-host an exhibition called “The Inheritance of Chinese Classics”, with the goal to spotlight the contributions of both institutions to Chinese classical studies, the statement said.
Several festival activities require pre-registration through one’s Macao One Account, including lectures, workshops and the cosplay contest, with free admission.
This poster provided by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) yesterday promotes the Macao Reading Festival 2025, slated to start next Friday.
