Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s largest book fair drew a record 150,000 visitors this year, with the five-day event helping to fuel the State’s reading culture, creative economy and education tourism.
The Kota Kinabalu International Book Fair 2026’s (PBAKK) closing ceremony was officiated by Head of State Tun Musa Aman at the Sabah International Convention Centre, Sunday.
“I am confident that efforts to nurture a strong reading culture among the people of Sabah can be achieved through the organising of this book fair,” he said.
The event was organised by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in collaboration with the Institute for Development Studies Sabah, Sabah State Library and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
“We were confident this target could be achieved, looking at the very encouraging interest from the public, at the same time positioning PBAKK as the most prestigious literacy and publishing platform in the Borneo and Southeast Asian region,” said UMS Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor.
He said the fair drew 5,644 school students from 24 districts in Sabah by its second day.
“This year, our event was enlivened by wide participation from local and international exhibitors,” he said, adding that apart from publishing companies, government agencies and book distributors from across the country.
The fair also received participation from international exhibitors, particularly neighbouring Brunei.
He said the involvement of local and international partners proved PBAKK was competitive as a holistic regional publishing event.
Kasim said 58 activities were carried out during the fair, themed “Ilmu Dijunjung Bangsa Disanjung”.
He said the theme was chosen to remind the public that the dignity and civilisation of a nation would only be respected when its society made knowledge the pillar of life.
He thanked the Sabah Government and everyone involved for their support and cooperation in making the event a success.
He also expressed appreciation for in kind support and contributions of goods, facilities and services, saying this reflected a strong Quadruple Helix synergy between academia, government, industry and the community in sustaining the reading culture.
“The PBAKK serves a dual purpose of promoting the reading culture in line with the National Reading Decade while contributing to local economic activity, particularly in the book industry, creative economy and education tourism sector.
“This was in line with UMS’ role and vision to remain a driver of knowledge and academic reference in the region, with the fair reflecting the university’s commitment to its slogan ‘UMS The Brain of Borneo’,” he said.
The event’s highlight featured the Anugerah Buku Borneo (ABB) 2026, which Kasim said is the highest form of recognition for writers, authors, researchers and publishers in Sabah and Borneo who had dedicated their efforts to contributing invaluable intellectual heritage.
Prominent national historian attached with Universiti Malaya, Prof Datuk Dr Danny Wong Tze Ken earned the Best Book Award (Borneo Category) and the Piala TYT Yang-di-Pertua Negeri Sabah for his work “Murder Most Foul: The Kalabakan Massacre 1890”, while Raymond Majumah won the Best Book Award in the Sabah category for “Bhahul Puisi Etnik Rungus”.
Jaya Ramba won the Best Book Author Award in the Borneo category and Ramli Dollah won the same award in the Sabah category.
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei won the Best Book Publisher Award in the Borneo category while Penerbit UMS won the award in the Sabah category.
Kasim congratulated all award recipients and hopes the recognition would inspire more local authors to produce high quality work.
He also hopes that the networks of cooperation and knowledge sharing forged over the five days would continue to flourish and bring long term positive impact.
