Video: Cairo Book Fair ... the culture of diversity

Private-Al-Jazeera Net

Under the slogan "Egypt Africa .. a culture of diversity", the Cairo International Book Fair will conclude its fifty-first session today, Tuesday, two weeks after Egyptians and foreigners turn out.

The exhibition includes in its new location in the New Cairo region east of the Egyptian capital, about nine hundred Egyptian and foreign publishing houses, an increase of 153 publishing houses over the past year, and the number of Egyptian publishing houses is 398, including 75 publishing houses specialized in children's books, and 121 publishing houses for heritage and Islamic books.

Young Islam Hisham says that he used to visit the exhibition every year five years ago to learn about the latest books, calling for the exhibition to be organized more than once a year.

Hisham pointed out that the presence of a space for restaurants and rest, helped the public enjoy their time and excursion, and this enabled them to spend longer periods in search of the best books and meet new authors, as well as attend more seminars and various activities.

In turn, Ammar Al-Amin - from Sudan - says that he was hoping to coincide with the book fair during his frequent visits to Egypt, which was achieved this year.

Al-Amin pointed out that the Cairo exhibition is an international exhibition that contains all kinds of political, cultural, social and other books, calling for the exhibition period to extend to a month, not just two weeks, so that everyone can visit it, especially from outside Egypt.

For her part, Reda Abdullah said that she works as a school principal, so she is keen to visit the exhibition every year so that she is always aware of the latest information and ideas in the world.

She emphasized that the great demand for visiting the exhibition, especially among young people, confirms the Egyptians' interest in culture, pointing out its admiration for the new site of the exhibition, especially with the large space and good organization.

The activities of the Cairo International Book Fair started on January 22, and the organizers chose the country of Senegal as a guest of honor, and the late Egyptian thinker Gamal Hamdan was chosen as the character of the exhibition.