A campaign to encourage people to hand in second-hand books is running until the end of this month, ahead of the launch of Portimão’s fifth “Há Livros no Mercado” fair, going ahead over Easter in the municipal market of Avenida S. João de Deus.
The fair is Portimão’s way of commemorating World Book Day, backed by the municipal library in collaboration with the town’s Manuel Teixeira Gomes reading club.
The plan is for a first phase running until March 31 in which people with books they no longer want can deliver them either to a “livrão” at the town’s library, or to council ‘pólo de leitura’ reading spots in Mexilhoeira Grande and Alvor.
The campaign is aimed not simply at disseminating books and so encouraging others to read them, but also at saving people the expense of buying new ones.
All works collected will go towards the fair which runs from April 17 to 22 during the library’s normal working hours, and which will include various side-shows and ‘animation’.
Bbooks will be sold for the ‘symbolic price’ of 20 cêntimos, with all proceeds of the fair reverting back to the municipal library.
The initiative last year saw 2335 books handed in for resale, 1994 sold and 49 new books purchased by the library with the proceeds.
