Qatar Foundation (QF) has launched a National Reading Campaign, to incubate a love of literature among all residents, with a special focus on children. 
QF will seek to unite the individual literacy efforts to create one consolidated platform that will enable entities to collectively promote a passion for reading throughout the entire community. Through a series of innovative and interactive projects, the nationwide initiative will make books readily accessible to the people of Qatar, and encourage their uptake, QF said in a statement.
The first stage of the year-round campaign, focusing on schoolchildren across Qatar, is already underway. Regular reading sessions are taking place at many local schools, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
Several activities and events will be launched in the months ahead to demonstrate that reading can be fun, exciting and informative. These include the Reading Truck, which is a dedicated vehicle that will operate as a mobile library; Vending Machines, which will be circulated around schools and allow children to exchange up to ten books at a time; and interactive, immersive story telling sessions and nationwide 
competitions. 
More activities and events will be announced to make reading an essential part of the nation’s daily routine.
As the campaign evolves to include the wider public in its subsequent phases, the initiative will provide abundant reading and storytelling opportunities, in collaboration with local stakeholders and partners to involve the whole family. These include pop-up stores and public activities which will encourage parents, teachers and institutions to be actively involved in promoting a book-loving culture in Qatar. 
Other QF initiatives, such as the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) and Qatar National Library, further illustrate this goal and, through the National Reading Campaign, the Foundation aims to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge for all. 
“By incubating a deep-rooted culture of self-learning, Qatar Foundation is working to inspire a passion for innovation,” said Fahad Saad al-Qahtani, president, Community Development, Qatar Foundation. “Reading is the primary building block for learning, as it helps to encourage a range of soft skills in young minds, including learning, understanding and creativity.”