SINGAPORE - If you have kids who are keen on coding, you can take them to Popular bookstore's BookFest @ Singapore, which is now on at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.
This year, for the first time, visitors will find products designed to introduce children to coding, such as Cubico and Kamibot.
The Kamibot, for example, is a small, programmable robot children can control by writing their own code, and customise with a variety of colourful papercraft skins. At BookFest, it is available at the discounted price of $308 (usual price $330).
The annual book and stationery fair, which started in 2006, runs from Friday (Dec 6) till Dec 15, and is expected to draw crowds of around 600,000.
A range of speciality electronic gadgets, from ergonomic gaming chairs to a Samsung 49-inch curved monitor, are also available at the Gaming Corner. Gamers can also optimise their performance by trying to engineer their own computers at the Armageddon Custom PC Builds Booth.
Book lovers can look forward to a line-up of literary events.
Writers will talk about their works, including Malaysian novelist Tunku Halim, who penned the horror short story collection Scream To The Shadows, and local writer Akshita Nanda, author of the novel Beauty Queens Of Bishan.
Winners of the Popular Readers' Choice Awards will also be announced on Saturday morning. Nominees include A.J. Low, author of the Sherlock Sam series, and Neil Humphreys, who wrote the humorous novel A Royal Pain In The Class that was published in July.
Besides discounts of up to 70 per cent, a selected range of items will be reduced to prices of 95 cents, $9.50 and $19.50 to commemorate Popular's 95th anniversary. Special deals include the Disney Princess Storybook Collection and Disney Frozen: Anna Activity Time, which are going at $9.50 each.
Fans of American author and illustrator Dav Pilkey and his popular Captain Underpants series can pick up the latest installation of his Dog Man comics, Dog Man: Fetch-22, at BookFest for $19.94. They can also meet the Dog Man mascot and learn to draw the character during a meet-and-greet session next Monday.
BOOK IT / BookFest @ Singapore 2019
WHERE: Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Halls 401 to 406, 1 Raffles Boulevard
WHEN: Friday (Dec 6) to Dec 15, 10am to 10pm
MRT: Esplanade
ADMISSION: Free
INFO: bookfestsingapore.com
