Cairo Book Fair...was a mirror before mirrors were broken

Cairo Book Fair (Al Jazeera)

In the cultural program of the fifty-fifth session of the Cairo International Book Fair (January 24 - February 6, 2024), there was a symposium entitled: “The Harvest of the First Phase of the National Dialogue... The Continuing National Dialogue.” Perhaps it is not exactly a symposium.

In the printed program, there is only one speaker, advisor Mahmoud Fawzi, and the presence of the phrase: “in cooperation with the coordination of party youth” suggests organized parties, in a session “moderated by Ahmed Abdel Samad,” management, not dialogue, with an advisor whose name I knew as head of Sisi’s electoral campaign, in the December elections. December 2023, when the broadcaster asked him: Why was he affected “so strongly and with so much humanity by mentioning the achievement of Mr. President?” He replied: “The numbers... the numbers are horrifying... if anyone looks at these numbers fairly, there will be no words.” He wiped away the specter of a tear.

Old impurities

There was a vegetable seller in our country, and it happened that the fruits were dominated by hot peppers, and in the market the poor man kept biting the pepper pod, and his eyes filled with tears and he swore to God Almighty. It is good, as evidenced by the fact that he eats it clearly, then bites it, swears, and wipes away the tears.

How easy it is for the lying pepper seller to swear and tears! What is the connection between pepper and a book fair? Everything is present in the exhibition except pepper, and it will not be included like the advisor’s session in any book fair in the world, not because no one took the story of that dialogue seriously or with attention, nor because the features of the parties were erased, nor because “coordination” is a borrowed term stripped of its connotations, but rather because of the lack of The connection between all of this and the publishing industry.

But the Cairo Book Fair, truth be told, got rid of many of its old impurities. I've written extensively about the gallery's transformation into Palo. What does the book have to do with seminars on football, the review of Gamal Mubarak’s godfathers, the first of whom is Ali El-Din Hilal, the days of Egypt’s hosting of the World Cup, circus and drag shows, the problems of independent theater groups, the decline of classical song, the cinema crisis, the new comedians, and the predicament of Egyptian drama in the face of the sweep of Syrian drama? .. What does this, etc., have to do with the publishing industry?

At the Music Festival, issues of music are discussed, and at the Experimental Theater Festival, issues of cinema, visual art, and songs are not discussed. As for the book fair, it is a festival in which the issues of the threatened publishing industry are dominated by noise.

Much of that old noise, whose goal was to bring in the masses, has disappeared, and its effects remain that ignore the issue of context, such as a symposium entitled: “Invest Rightly,” by Ahmed Al-Sheikh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Stock Exchange, in the presence of a group of company board chairs, and the celebration of “110 years of membership.” Egypt in the World Scout Organization.

Rehabilitation

The exhibition remains a mirror of the Egyptian situation, its ups and downs, before the mirrors were broken and the major annual event was lured away, where control is easy and no voice is heard in the desert.

Consider the titles of the book fair in 2012, when hopes were reaching the sky: “The Civil State,” “Testimonies of Tahrir Square,” “Blogs between Politics and Literature,” “Poets of the Square,” before the field was criminalized, innocents were tried, and the revolution was held accountable for the sins of the counter-revolution.

I have an old relationship with the book fair, years before I entered it. When I was in the first year of secondary school, in January 1982, the school announced a trip to the exhibition, with a subscription of one pound, and that pound was not available. The dream was postponed until I entered Cairo University and saw Nizar Qabbani, Muhammad Hassanein Heikal, Abdul Rahman Al-Abnoudi, Youssef Idris, Muhammad Amara, and others. Their presence gave the exhibition its value.

After graduation, I lived in a room on the rooftops in Abbasiya Square, and I used to walk to the fairgrounds. This tradition remained, going, not walking, until the process of desertification began, emptying Cairo and turning it into a city for crows, and bulldozing it, so that the ruins remained subject to negotiation for sale only, at the lowest price, and the fairgrounds were one of the ruins.

This issue occupied me. It is the core of my novel: “2067.” If the intention is sincere, it is possible, with a margin, to establish a new entity to rehabilitate Al-Qaim, the fairgrounds, and Cairo itself, instead of neglecting the patient, leaving him to his fate, and recovering by monitoring him while waiting for his organs to be sold.

I decided not to enter the exhibition during my current exile, except for one time in January 2020, to share my friends’ joy over a new book. They took me and brought me back. My position is silent, it is a private personal matter that I have not announced. The exhibition is a season of joy, for the public before the writers, and Egypt is a major market, and I despise those who promote a saying; An Arab exhibition sold 100,000 sandwiches and less than a thousand books. No, sir. Hundreds of thousands of books are sold at the Cairo Fair. It is bigger than just an “exhibition.”

Brotherly slap

Years before the January Revolution, I participated once in a discussion of my novel: “The Day of the Day.” Then I refused to participate, as the seminars have no connection to the book or writing.

I was optimistic about the revolution, and the publishing house submitted my book: “Revolution Now” for the exhibition prize, and before announcing the results of the prizes, officials from the Book Authority asked the publishing house for a copy of my ID card, and I was told that this procedure applies to the winners, to arrange the matters related to the prize, oh, welcome to the money.

The victory of the book “Repentance from the Brotherhood” surprised me, as part of the escalation of repentant brothers who received a hundred Brotherhood slaps on the back of their necks inadvertently. I laughed, and I do not blame the chronic arbitrators. Reading the context is comforting, and we are in a country where anyone who says that Sayyed Qutb is a terrorist can become Minister of Culture.

I don't interact with the exhibition. I preceded its transfer to its current location with an angry article entitled: “Emptying Cairo... Goodbye Book Fair,” in the London newspaper “Al-Arab” on August 7, 2018. This year’s edition has a personal exception that requires clarification, as I am participating in a symposium: “The Writings of Yoon Fosse.” Between Esotericism and Spirituality,” about the literature of the Norwegian writer who won the 2023 Nobel Prize.

An invitation from the Norwegian side, as part of Norway’s activities as the guest of honour, and I do not know the invitees. In 2018, I published an article about the novel: “Morning and Evening”, perhaps the first Arabic writing about Jon Fosse before he was awarded the Nobel Prize. An exceptional writer, as if he had no fathers, and this was confirmed for me by reading his novel: “The Trilogy.” My trip to the fair is a one-off.

Suspicious communication

In Egypt, unlike in Europe and developed countries, there is a love of the festival situation, pride in superlatives, boasting of numbers, and announcing the numbers of visitors. They are visitors, passers-by who do not interact, guests on a specific mission, strangers in isolation, a strange land that provides order and procedures calculated in a maquette. Or film decor.

As for the location of the previous exhibition, it achieves communication with its human and geographical surroundings, and this is undesirable and suspicious. With the ability of a capable exhibition, the exhibition can create a state of gathering that may spark a spark, and perhaps this is the secret of its pursuit from the heart to the outskirts, from the island to Nasr City to the desert. I will never stop dreaming of a typical book fair, in the garden and courtyard of Abdeen Palace, or in the courtyard of the Opera House.

A dream of betting on the symbolism of the January 25, 2011 revolution, and its promises of a state of citizenship. At that time, the books that documented the events of the revolution, gave the martyrs the title of martyrs, and recorded the longings for freedom with graffiti on the walls were reprinted. At that time, we will not see police cars surrounding Abdeen Palace, the Opera House, or the nearby squares.

In Europe and developed countries they do not see soldiers on the streets. It brings the prestige of the law; They are assured of justice, and signs of harshness disappear.

Let us dream, there are no restrictions on dreams, and in the beginning the imagination was free, and in the end it will be.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.