Have you heard of Ljubljana? No? Neither have I.

Ljubljana was named last week as "World Book Capital 2010" by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in Paris.

The largest city and capital of Slovenia in central Europe is the tenth city to be designated World Book Capital, after Madrid, Spain in 2001, then Alexandria, Egypt; New Delhi, India; Antwerp, Belgium; Montreal, Canada; Turin, Italy; Bogota, Colombia; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Beirut, Lebanon in succeeding years.

Ljubljana was selected for the quality of its application as well as for its diverse and complete programme, widely and enthusiastically supported by all players involved in the book industry including publishers, bookstores and libraries.

Have you heard of Thailand? Welcome to my home country!

Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia where only 4.4 per cent of the population spends its spare time reading.

It's where school children manage to read seven lines a day, a figure that the Education Ministry is striving to lift to 12 lines per day.

On average, Thai people buy two books a year, spending Bt260 on their purchases.

There is one library in Thailand for every 84,000 people.