Book worm heaven

From Thursday through Sunday (January 21-24), stock up on enough reading material, stationary supplies, and hobby kits to last you a year. The book festival at Ahoy Rotterdam offers seemingly millions of items in Dutch and English, from novels and cook books to big glossy coffee-table art books, study books, dictionaries and the so-called ‘brain-food’ titles, all at attractive ‘student-approved’ prices, with discounts of up to 90%. The festival is basically a soccer field full of books, so if you’re really a bookworm, plan an entire day for the trip, and even then, by the end, you’ll be lucky to have gotten through half the stalls.

Het Boekenfestijn, organized by De Centrale Boekhandel for the past 25 years, travels from city to city in the Netherlands and Belgium, setting up in a new location every month or so. The first place to be visited in 2010 is the Ahoy Expo hall in Rotterdam, which is the closest the fair gets to Delft.
The fair stays at each location for about a week. Monday through Wednesday the stalls are set up, and then on Thursday the doors are open to the public. Visitors are given a wheelie cart and left to roam around the endless book fields. Shopping generally resembles book harvesting: the bargain-loving Dutch really do get a year’s worth of book supplies at these events. Entrance is free, and in addition to books there are heaps of stationary, hobby kits and other just plain useless stuff to delightfully and inexpensively clutter up your drawers and bookshelves.

So why are all the books so cheap? The books are acquired directly from publishers, often from stock that hasn’t sold, was damaged, or has been replaced by newer editions. Chances are you won’t find any titles currently reigning on the best-seller list, and to find what you’re looking for often requires scavenging through mountains of books, but what would the fun of shopping be without a bit of a quest? Tips for beginners: wear comfortable shoes, bring a big backpack and pack a lunch. That way, in case you get stranded in some remote book-filled valley, you’ll be able to set up camp and rest until a book fair employee can rescue you.  

www.boekenfestijn.nl

Wil jij in een redactie van studenten één nummer van Delta maken? Een universiteitskrant die jij als student meteen zou willen lezen? Je bepaalt zelf de inhoud, schrijft artikelen binnen de bestaande opmaak en lay-out en maakt foto’s. De krant, Delta 18, zal verschijnen op 28 mei. Op 23 april is de eerste redactievergadering. De redactie van Delta biedt tijdens het hele proces ondersteuning. Met dit project wil Delta erachter komen wat studenten missen in de krant. De afdeling Marketing en Communicatie wil daarnaast meer zicht krijgen op de manieren waarop studenten van alle faculteiten met elkaar zouden willen communiceren. En jij maakt de ultieme krant voor en door studenten, niet minder dan een collectors item. Doe je mee? Stuur je cv en motivatie naar Saskia Bonger, s.m.bonger@tudelft.nl