The National Book Festival was clearly a success this year.

Speaking in Parliament, Education Minister Clifton Grima said that there were more than 40,000 visitors who attended, and he called it a national record.

The venue saw stalls by various publishers and book shops set up at the MFCC in Ta' Qali. It was well organised and well attended, and had rooms in which some talks were also delivered for those interested.

The minister, while speaking in Parliament in response to a question posed by PL MP Katya De Giovanni, said that over 15,000 book vouchers were used in this year's National Book Festival. Book vouchers, valued at €20 each, were distributed to youths between the ages of 5-16 years old to incentivise reading during this annual festival. These vouchers were only able to be used on book purchases during this Festival.

Reading is a pastime many enjoy. But as technology progressed over the years, many began turning to other forms of entertainment. The popularity of television programmes, series and films rose. Nowadays, we often catch ourselves constantly scrolling on our phones, seeing quick 10 second videos, or reading short messages in the form of posts on social media.

But the value and importance of reading books, be they classical novels, fantasy stories, biographies of important persons or whatever else, cannot be stressed enough. Reading opens our minds to new ideas, allows our imagination to expand, broadens our vocabulary and allows us to lose ourselves, even for a brief time, in other worlds. They provide a break from the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, and expand our knowledge or creativity while doing so.

This is why it is fantastic to see an event such as this succeed, and that so many people enjoy reading in this day and age.

Helping children become interested in reading as a hobby must start at a young age. For one thing, it will help in their education and will broaden their horizons.

Nowadays tools are being created to make life easier for us all, but one must urge caution. We are here referring to AI. It can, for instance, come up with ideas for a user about a specific issue. But becoming over-reliant on it has downsides, such as making us lazy.

This is why initiatives to encourage children to read and be creative and critical thinkers are essential. Along this line, the voucher was a good initiative, and more ways to incentivise children to read are always welcome. The book festival was a success, but it shouldn't stop there.