Organizers of the 45th Cairo International Book Fair breathed a sigh of relief. The fear of the book fair’s failure dominated the event because of the bombings that hit the Egyptian capital on the third day of the fair.
Demonstrations led by Morsi supporters and rumours of potential bombings— in protest of the absence of hard line Islamic publishers— to destroy the book fair were also feared to spoil the event.
Organizers of the 45th Cairo International Book Fair breathed a sigh of relief. The fear of the book fair’s failure dominated the event because of the bombings that hit the Egyptian capital on the third day of the fair.
Demonstrations led by Morsi supporters and rumours of potential bombings— in protest of the absence of hard line Islamic publishers— to destroy the book fair were also feared to spoil the event.
Yet the 15-day fair was characterized by a quiet atmosphere. The noises of loudspeakers setup by fundamental Salafist publishers were absent. The “Mawlid” (birth of prophet) celebrations, which the intellectual elites in the country were complaining about, had also disappeared.
Military-style censorship
The Ministry of Defense had a conspicuously heavy presence, especially given the rise in the role of the military establishment.
On a big screen in the middle of the hall, one could hear the “Tislam al-Ayadi” (May God blesses your hands) song, the same song that the people started to hear in all the celebrations and demonstrations since June 30, when anti-Mohamed Morsi protests began. A statue of a soldier carrying his gun near a pile of books and the keys of knowledge stood tall amidst the scene.
The defense ministry had research and books on the history of the military establishment in Egypt, yet when a visitor asked about them, he discovered that there were only book covers and titles but there is nothing inside these covers.
There were covers of a nine-part encyclopaedia on the events of January 25 and the role of the armed forces displayed, as well as books about influential Egyptian personalities like Mohamed Naguib, Nasser, al-Sadat, Mubarak, al-Chadli – the army chief of staff during the 1973 war – Mohammed Fawzi – and the Minister of Defense during the 1967 -1970 war. All of these book covers could be seen, but there was no content inside.
When asked when the books would become available, the officer in civilian clothes said politely that the Moral Affairs Apparatus would make them available within two to three months’ time.
The same policy of book covers with no books inside them was used by the General Books Authority, the government agency responsible for organizing the book fair.
Fair’s personality
Taha Hussein, long time icon of Arab literature, was selected as the 2014 personality of the fair because of the nature of the fair’s themes, seminars and main debates focussing on culture and identity.
The book authority announced that it re-published 20 books authored by Taha Hussein on the occasion of the 45th session of the Cairo Book Fair, excluding his controversial book on the pre-Islamic poetry (Fi al-Shier al-Jahili), a book for which Hussein was accused of blasphemy in the 1920’s. Eventually a number of intellectual elites responsible for the Family Library Project were able to publish the book entitled ‘al-Fitna al-Kubra’ (The Great Sedition) book.
All the copies of this book displayed by the Family Library wing, in which Hussein used the Cartesian philosophical approach based on the re-questioning of historical events in a neutral manner, disappeared.
Guest of honour
The participation of Kuwait, the fair’s guest of honour, consisted of a display hall, which contained a few books on the contribution of this gulf country to the different scientific fields. Visitors to this hall couldn’t find what they were searching for, such as the distinguished publications of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Culture and the famous ‘Alam al-Maarefa’ (the world of knowledge) series. Kuwait had lots of space during poetry recital evenings and during seminars.
The importance of the participation of this country became clear when prizes were distributed to publishers who displayed the best books of 2014 together with the General Book Authority. The participation of Kuwait allowed the distribution of two prizes in each field of knowledge.
For display only
The success or failure of the 45th Cairo International Book Fair depends, in the first place, on how one looks at this issue. If we take into consideration the large number of people who bought tickets to attend the fair, one can say that it was a successful event. However, if we take into consideration the degree of Arab and Egyptian publishers’ satisfaction and the numbers of books sold, then one can say that the event did not succeed.
Apart from the conflicting figures on the number of visitors on the second day of the fair, ranging between 40 and 60,000 visitors as well as the free invitations, the repeated visits to the fair confirms that there was an increase in the number of people, especially the youth.
The book business
It was clear, however, that most of the visitors were not buying books and that most of the books sold were those of the General Book Authority, which was able to compete with the vendors of the al-Azbakiya Fence by selling old copies of books for one Egyptian pound. However, this fair has also seen long queues of people who came to attend the signing of book events such as the books of Ahmad Khaled Tawfiq, Ahmad Murad and Yousef Zeidan published by Dar al-Shorouq Publishing House.
Nevertheless, those responsible for this publishing house’s publications complained that they did not sell their books for the second year after the January 25 revolution.
For newly emerging publishing houses, such as al-Katabkhana, Dar al-Arabi and Sifsafa, the fair was an opportunity to advertise their publications, meet with other Arab publishers and interact with the people. Mohammad al-Baali, the owner of the Sifsafa Publishing House, unlike other publishers, confirmed “if we do not take into consideration the five days that have followed the bombings, this session of the book fair is much better than last year’s session.”
Some writers said that it is very difficult to work with the Egyptian publishers because they want to guarantee high profits and they seek to sign contracts with the different Arab government institutions to sell big quantities of their publications.
No earning potential this year
Some of the Arab publishers, such as the Arab Cultural Center, based in Beirut packed their bags and left one day before the end of the fair. The person representing this publishing house said that his house couldn’t earn more than a thousand Egyptian pound every day which does not even cover the cost of displaying the house’s books.
In hall no. 19, which is dedicated to Arab publishers, there were many Syrian publishers who participated in the fair despite the high increase in the cost of producing books because of the war and due to the fact that many of the printing shops were burnt in addition to the difficulty of transporting books outside the country and bringing them back.
Munif Melhem, the director of Dar Tamouz, a newly founded publishing house, said that Syrian publishers are being punished for what is happening in Syria today. He added that “some publishers are not given visas to attend important fairs in the region such as those held in Riyadh, Kuwait and Morocco.”
Dar al-Jamal, in Catalonia, Beirut, was deceived by the success it had made during the past year’s session. This publishing house is known for its liberal orientation and for its courage in crossing red lines. The person responsible for the sales of this publishing house’s publications said: “We sold 250 boxes of books when the Muslim Brotherhood Movement was in power. This year, we reserved a bigger space for out publications but we didn’t sell anything.”
