It’s that time of year again when publishers and literature fanatics alike gear up for the 43rd Cairo International Book Fair! For the first time in its history, the ten-day book fair has been moved to the Cairo International Conference Centre in Nasr City, a big change from its usual location at the Cairo International Fair Grounds on Salah Salem Street. 

This hugely popular book fair took place for the very first time in 1969 and featured over 462 publishers from 47 countries, and 100,000 titles. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the book fair was deemed a National Arab Project to create a space for open dialogue and exchange of viewpoints on all social, cultural, political and economic issues of the time.

This undercurrent persuaded the fair’s organisers to provide a space where reading material could be published and purchased, and where workshops and seminars   could be held as part of the fair’s goal in expanding participants’ knowledge of current events and in promoting dialogue of topics surrounding the literary world.

In 2010, over 765 publishers participated in the Cairo International Book Fair while over 3,000,000 books were on display, providing quite a successful venture for both publishing houses and participators.

This year, organisers expect more books to be available with new activities added including round-table discussions, poetry evenings and a cultural café as well as musical performances, and much more. Seminars and talks will cover three main themes: ‘Scientific Progress and Epidemics’, ‘The Global Economic Crisis and the Issues of Capitalism and Socials’ and ‘The Arab Novel between Quantitative Explosion and Qualitative Bloom;' all of which are current and relevant issues.

Open daily from 10AM to 7PM, the fair will draw large crowds throughout the day as usual; so try to get there as early as possible. Public buses will run from Tahrir, Ramsis, Ataba and Abasseya stations to the Nasr City Fair grounds and the railway authority is offering a 50% discount on train tickets to Cairo during the fair as well.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to pick up new titles and second-hand books in great condition, and also participate in interesting discussions with respected authors and intellectuals from the region. For more information, check out the website here and we hope to see you there.