ASTANA – The Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Sports and TikTok are launching the #kitaptok challenge to encourage reading, sharing of book recommendations, and discovery of new authors, reported the ministry’s press service on April 19.
Photo credit: Kazakh Ministry of Culture and Sports press service.
The project marks World Book Day and will be the local version of the famous #BookTok project that gained 123 billion views.
#BookTok has significantly impacted the book industry, allowing writers to increase their popularity and books to reach bestseller lists as users worldwide share via TikTok videos their recommendations and opinions about the books they read. People are increasingly picking books based on TikTok reviews; videos with the #bookrecommendations hashtag have received over 2 billion views.
The initiative seeks to make book reading popular in the country. Users can use the hashtag #kitaptok to share their favorite books, film book reviews, read passages from books, capture the moment the book is unwrapped, and share personal stories regarding the books. Users can vote for their favorite literary art on the project’s home page.
“Such projects not only help people learn about new books and share their literary preferences, but they can also help contemporary Kazakh writers find new readers and increase interest in visiting libraries,” said the ministry’s spokesperson Moldir Abdualiyeva.
The National Academic Library, the Toraigyrov Pavlodar Regional Universal Scientific Library, the Gogol Karagandy Regional Universal Scientific Library, and popular TikTok creators are participating in the project.
The authors of the three most creative videos will receive valuable prizes from the Meloman/MARWIN book chain stores in Kazakhstan. The winners will be announced on May 15.
