The participants took turns to read fiction novels and short stories aloud, over a continuous duration of 144 hours from 1pm on July 3 to 1pm on July 9. -- PHOTO: BH
SINGAPOREANS from all walks of life, ranging from students to writers such as poet Felix Cheong to a group of taxi-driver bookworms, made history on Thursday by completing Singapore's longest reading marathon.
More than 400 participants read aloud non-stop for 144 hours from 1pm last Friday to 1pm on Thursday at the National Library Board (NLB) building in Bugis.
Their six-day, six-night record-breaking reading marathon was part of the National Library Board's Read! Singapore 2009 campaign, an annual event launched in 2005 to encourage more Singaporeans to read.
The marathon was made up of 24 teams of six to 24 members. Each team took about six hours each, with no breaks in between, to read aloud a story of their choice, ranging from novels to short stories.
The event was free and open to the public. Their page-turning efforts resulted in an official record for the 'Longest Reading Aloud Marathon by Multiple Readers' in the Singapore Book of Records.
The world record for reading aloud is held by a team from Uruguay who in 2007 clocked up 224 hours.
During the reading marathon, the board also collected donations for The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times' LIFE!
