Free digital library for children launched

A two-day book translation event organised by the Asia Foundation ended on Tuesday at the Hotel Bengal Blueberry, Gulshan in the capital. The event marked the launching of "Let's Read" campaign to encourage reading habit among the future generation.

The event was held under the Books for Asia project of Asia Foundation, said a press release. The project aims to translate and publish over 50 children's books into Bangla. The books are written in different Asian languages. They would be uploaded on a free digital library for children available at – www.letsreadasia.org.

The translation event was the first of its kind, according to the press release. It was planned to gather writers, editors, and volunteers to make more books available for children in Bangla.

On the first day, after an inaugural session, teams of volunteers translated the colourful pages of books created in communities across Asia. On the second day, professional editors and language experts reviewed the translations and published the books on the online platform.

The 50 new Bangla books join over 2,900 titles in 27 languages already available in the library under creative commons licenses. All books in the Let's Read library can be read, downloaded and adapted for free with few or no restrictions.

Partners of the event were JAAGO Foundation, Subornogram Foundation, the United Nations Youth Advisory Panel and Lighter Youth Foundation.

The Asia Foundation Bangladesh's country representative Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj inaugurated the event while Shahin Islam, project director of Empowering Girls through Education under Save the Children, Zinat Ara of Save the Children, Tony Michael Gomes of Library Unlimited under British Council were also present.

Also present at the opening ceremony were Director of Technical Program of World Vision Zareen Mahmud Hosein, Founder and Executive Director of HerStory Foundation Karvi Rakhsand, Founder and Executive Director of JAAGO Foundation Shahed Kayes.