For the second year in succession, the Big Bad Wolf, the world's biggest 24-hour book fair will take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Center (SLECC) from June 28 to July 8. This year, one of Sri Lanka's foremost recruitment agencies, B-Connected, will be partnering with the Big Bad Wolf to provide staff of different categories to man this mega sale.
The agency hopes to attract energetic, friendly and team-spirited people willing to work 12-hour shifts during the event. The Big Bad Wolf was first launched in 2009 by Andrew Yap and Jaqueline Ng, as a warehouse sale in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, providing an exciting array of excess books from international distributors. The books ranged from bestsellers to children's books, scientific, educational and recreational publications, as well as coffee table collectibles. The affordable prices and easy availability of the books proved to be a huge attraction and before long, The Big Bad Wolf was "making his way across the world with a collection of mesmerizing books". Apart from Malaysia and Sri Lanka, The Big Bad Wolf has also successfully held book fairs in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Book fairs are popular in Sri Lanka because Sri Lankans read a lot. Sri Lanka and the Maldives stand out as two countries in the SAARC region having exceptionally high literacy rates worldwide. While the global literacy rate for all people aged 15 years and above is 86.3 per cent, Sri Lanka has a literacy rate of 92 per cent and the Maldives a rate of 99 per cent. This explains why in 2017, when the Big Bad Wolf came to Sri Lanka for the first time, it was a huge success. The fair offered 1.5 million brand-new high-quality English books, covering 20,000 titles across all genres. These books came with 60 to 80 per cent discounts and were snapped up by book lovers.
The Big Bad Wolf 2018 is expected to be even more exciting and dynamic and is set to become an annual event for book lovers in Sri Lanka. With Sri Lanka aspiring to be a literary hub in Asia, and given the global recognition of events such as the yearly Galle Literary Festival, international book fairs such as this will further enhance that image.
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