Ho Chi Minh City: Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Lunar New Year Book Street Festival (Year of the Horse)

On the evening of February 15th, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee held the opening ceremony of the 2026 Lunar New Year Book Street Festival, with the theme "Spring Gathering - Steadfastly Moving Forward".

Delegates cut the ribbon to inaugurate the event. Photo: Nghiem Y.

The Tet Book Street Festival is one of Ho Chi Minh City's major cultural highlights, first held in 2010. This year, for the first time, the festival is being held in three locations: Le Loi Street (Saigon Ward), the New City Park (Binh Duong Ward), and the Revolutionary Tradition House area (Vung Tau Ward). The 2026 Tet Book Street Festival marks a new milestone in scale, with the event area reaching 13,635 square meters.

The festival is elaborately designed with many highlights to connect traditional heritage with the city's aspirations for progress. The 2026 Lunar New Year Book Street Festival dedicates the Ho Chi Minh Cultural Space to its center. This space, a collaboration between the Ho Chi Minh Museum - City Branch and various publishers, is themed "Bamboo Forest Tells Stories." The organizers used bamboo materials combined with projection technology and eight large book pillars to tell important historical stories of the country.

A venue for the book exhibition showcasing international cultural integration. Photo: Nghiem Y.

In addition to tens of thousands of books and newspapers, the festival also features unique cultural activities, such as: an exhibition of publications, documents, and images commemorating the 50th anniversary of Saigon - Gia Dinh city being named after President Ho Chi Minh; an exhibition "Ho Chi Minh City - A Livable Urban City" with publications, documents, and images about the achievements in the economic, cultural, and political fields of the city after the merger; an exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of the first General Election of the Vietnamese National Assembly (January 6, 1946 - January 6, 2026) and looking forward to the election day of the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2026-2031 term; experiencing e-books, audiobooks, and artificial intelligence; interacting with famous authors; attending workshops on books and reading culture…

Delegates visit the booths at the Book Street. Photo: Nghiem Y.

According to the organizers, each locality has its own unique features. For example, the New City Park has an additional space for displaying Spring newspapers, a calligrapher's corner, and a reading and storytelling playground for children; while the Revolutionary Tradition House area focuses on documents about the local struggle traditions, achievements in the maritime economy , and foreign affairs propaganda regarding the sea and islands.

In particular, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, at all three locations hosting the 2026 Lunar New Year Book Street Festival, a program of giving away books through "free book ATMs" will take place. This is one of the activities aimed at encouraging the spirit of sharing books in the community, helping readers access many good and meaningful books.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, According to Mr. Tran The Thuan, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City, the outstanding new feature of this year's festival is the expansion of the event space to many areas, contributing to spreading reading culture to a large number of people after the administrative boundary merger; at the same time, it enhances the application of technology, harmoniously combining the traditional values ​​of Tet books with modern reading trends, meeting the diverse needs of the public in the digital age.

Many new books will be introduced at the Book Street in 2026. Photo: Nghiem Y.

The book fair brings together more than 20 leading publishing and distribution units. Here, readers will be immersed in a diverse intellectual space ranging from foreign language books and literature to specialized topics on AI and digital transformation. The program includes many attractive interactive activities such as a lucky wheel, free ebook giveaways, and author meet-and-greets. In the expanded spaces, the festival clearly shows local characteristics, such as in Vung Tau, with the artistic light show "Bach Dinh - New Spring Colors" taking place on the nights of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of Tet, combined with music and ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) performances; and in Binh Duong, thematic exhibitions on the history of the Party and the development journey of the region…

"Through this festival, the city hopes to continue to inspire a love of books, encourage reading habits and lifelong learning; thereby contributing to building a learning society, improving the spiritual life of the people, and creating a solid foundation for the sustainable development of the city in the new phase," Mr. Tran The Thuan emphasized.

The Tet Book Street Festival 2026 (Year of the Horse) will take place from February 15th to February 22nd (corresponding to the 28th day of the 12th lunar month to the 6th day of the 1st lunar month).

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-khai-mac-le-hoi-duong-sach-tet-binh-ngo-2026-733653.html