International Book Exhibition Concludes [Archives:2000/42/Culture]
Hassan Al-Zaiedy,
Yemen Times
Two-hundred thirty-six publishing houses have participated in the 17th Book Fair held in Sanaa on 1-12 October, 2000 displaying more than 100,000 book titles, including new publications. Fifteen countries participated in the fair. The fair was permeated with holding scientific, literary and art symposiums and poetry evenings. The volume of visitors to the book fair has amounted to tens of thousands. In order to convey an account of the fair we have interviewed some representatives of the participating countries sounding out their opinions on the importance of the fair and its reflection on cultural cooperation and the relationships between the Arab countries.
We met Mr. Abdul-Muhsen Abdullah Al Al-Sheikh, representative of the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Higher Education in the Agency of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. He expressed his happiness for his countrys participation in the fair, saying that the Saudi Bookshop of King Abdul Aziz is also taking part. He said that book fairs help to consolidate scientific and cultural exchange between Arab countries. Our coming to Sanaa drove us to participate because here there are government institutions participating by only exhibiting books, not selling. There are more than eight Saudi publishing houses. In Saudi Arabia we urge the government publishing houses and institutions to take part in book fairs to consolidate the scientific and cultural exchange between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Ministry of Higher Education chairs the Committee of Foreign Books Fairs in case we are invited to participate in any we talk to the government authorities and institutions as well as universities and urge them to do so. He added that this is the second time the Kingdom participates in a book fair in Yemen and the Saudis still love the Yemenis and there is still is a large Yemeni Community in Saudi Arabia as they are our brothers in Islam. There were many students, who studied in Saudi Arabia, visited the Saudi pavilion in the fair and appreciated the idea of holding symposiums on different activities. Mr. Al Al-Sheik said, There should be many activities like this, particularly a Saudi week in which Saudi poetry is recited and lectures are given. The Yemeni people know much about Saudi singers and writers. We, Saudis, are very proud of Yemen and the Yemeni people. We hope that this cultural exchange will continue and I am confident that the two leaderships will work on strengthening this exchange at all levels. He concluded that the books in the fair are only for exhibition and free distribution and Saudi Arabia helps publishing houses by giving them discount by 50% out of freight tariffs.
Othman Mohammed Ahemd, a supervisor of the Omani pavilion in the fair from the Ministry of Omani National Heritage and Information, said, We are pleased to be representatives in the first participation in the Book Fair in Yemen. It is the first time in the history of relationships between the two countries we take part with this pavilion exhibiting the Ministry publications that are on national heritage and Omani culture. Most of these publications are related to the Omani heritage and the old Omani manuscripts some of which of religion and some on literature and poetry as well as some books written by Omani writers who wrote about the history, and historical sites in Oman. He added that though that was the first participation, it was a good thing to achieve it. We believe that these publications are the most valuable Omani ones. During our stay in Yemen we found that the Yemeni readers were desirous to know about these publications and we were also surprised at their previous knowledge about these publications and of their authors. We hope to participate in the next fair, the Ministry of Heritage and the Omani publishing houses.
Ahmad Al-Sality, from the Cultural Council for Arts in Qatar, said, Qatar participates in book fairs since they were first held in Yemen, I think since the beginning of 1987 in Sanaa University until now. I was very surprised at the Yemeni cultured and civilized people and I did not expect the visit of such large numbers numbers of people to the fair. Despite the bad economic conditions of people, their coming is still large and they are yearning either to buy or to read. There is a big cultural exchange between Qatar and Yemen. We have a book fair in Qatar to be held in two months time. Our representation in the Book Fair was modest but we preferred to attend because of the cultural exchange between Qatar and Yemen. Most of the books we are exhibiting are not for sale; they are only to make the Yemeni people know about Qatar.
Naser Salman Farag, a representative of Kuwait pavilion in the Fair, said, By our participation we are more interested in enhancing cultural exchange with Yemen and familiarizing Yemeni readers with publications about Kuwait and this is our first participation as Ministry of Information and publicity. It is just the beginning. Such fairs, culture exchanging, visits, symposiums must be repeated and reinforced. This should be the basis for acquainting the people of each country with one another. Welfare and love must prevail between us.
Muna Mohammed Youbiah, manageress of the Cultural Department Fund in the Egyptian Ministry of Information and representative of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Culture in the fair, said, This is the second official participation for us in Yemen. We participate with a project that the Supreme Council for Information in Egypt carries out. It is the National Translation Project that translates what is newly published in the world from different languages in deferent fields of knowledge, e.g. Art, Literature, Health , History..etc. We also participate with a collection of books written by Egyptian writers.
She also said that the Fair came as a very good opportunity to introduce other Arab cultural works to the Yemeni people and familiarize the Yemenis with the most important publications about other countries. She concluded that it was also a good chance to give publicity to Arab publications in other countries and to make the publishing houses acquaint with one another.
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