Slow Reading Festival in Taitung Kicks Off with Shih Chi-tsung Memorial Co-Learning Center Inauguration
In a bid to create a literary forest with the motto “one book, one tree, slowly read into a forest,” the Taitung County government, in collaboration with the Taitung County Story Association, organized the “2025 Taitung Slow Reading Festival.” The festival commenced today with the inauguration of the Shih Chi-tsung Memorial Co-Learning Center, featuring a myriad of activities such as a performance by Liang Jia Kindergarten’s Little Soldiers, the launch of a new picture book co-created by Donghai Elementary School teachers and students, sensory experiences for parents and children, and an enthralling bubble party by the Magician Art Troupe.
Creating a Literary Haven in Taitung
Chairman of the Taitung County Story Association, Huang Chun-chieh, highlighted the association’s efforts in establishing the Shih Chi-tsung Memorial Co-Learning Center on the premises of the Gongdong High School, a project that commenced last July and has now come to fruition. With the assistance of the Children’s Cultural and Art Foundation, along with funding from the Chilan Foundation, the old buildings were successfully renovated. Acknowledgment was extended to the Taitung County government, Council Speaker Wu Hsiu-hua, Councilors Chang Kuo-chou, and Pan Kuei-lan for their guidance and support. The Co-Learning Center aims to serve individuals of all ages, perpetuating a culture of reading and knowledge dissemination.
A Vision for Reading and Growth
The brainchild of the Taitung County Story Association, the “Taitung Slow Reading Festival” is founded on the principle of slowness, a celebration tailored exclusively for the people of Taitung to nurture, educate, and age gracefully through reading. The 2025 Taitung Slow Reading Festival aspires to cultivate a forest of knowledge through the metaphor of nurturing a tree from a seedling. This process symbolizes the enlightenment of knowledge, nourishment of imagination, and infusion of creativity, allowing the sapling of books to grow progressively in one’s heart, ultimately forming a lush forest brimming with infinite possibilities.
Empowering Through Education and Art
Principal Lu Ya-lin of Donghai Elementary School expressed immense pride in the participation of students and teachers in the opening ceremony of the Shih Chi-tsung Memorial Co-Learning Center, culminating in the launch of a new picture book titled “Be My Neighbor!” The book depicts the transformation of the Taiping River into an artificial wetland post-rehabilitation, now a sanctuary for migratory and local birds in Taitung. The creation of this book by the Donghai team, after extensive field surveys and ecological documentation, instills a sense of environmental responsibility in children and contributes significantly to land conservation through the production of picture books.
The Taitung Slow Reading Festival, scheduled from January 18 to March 30, will feature three lifestyle reading seminars, five parent-child storytelling sessions, a forest picture book exhibition, and an exhibition of original artwork from the book “Be My Neighbor!” Interested individuals can sign up to become reading seedling cultivation volunteers and participate in training programs. For detailed event information and registration, please refer to the Taitung County Story Association’s Facebook page.
