The 45th Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF), which ends on Thursday, continues to be a Cairo ritual and often a family affair despite the current unrest in the capital. Under the logo “Culture and Identity” the 45th CIBF opened its doors to the public from 22 January to 6 February in an annual event that has been two days longer than usual this year, with 17 Arab and seven foreign countries represented, along with 755 publishers including 27 foreign, 210 Arab and 518 Egyptian, and 92 kiosks of second-hand books representing the famous Al-Azbakiya book stalls. Thousands of people have been flocking daily to the fair, lining up in queues at its different gates in order to pass through the security measures installed around the fair's different pavilions. According to a statement by the General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO), the fair's organiser, the number of tickets sold during the first two days was 88,000, and double this number entered with free invitations. There were very few visitors on 25 and 26 January, two days after the CIBF's official inauguration, which coincided with the third anniversary of the 25 January Revolution. The anniversary started with a car bomb that exploded in front of the Cairo Security Directorate at Bab Al-Khalq, wounding a large number of people. It also damaged the neighbouring Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and the National Egyptian Library and Archives (NELA). The fair was deserted and its pavilions stood empty apart from the books, the guards and the salesmen while all scheduled events on the 25th were cancelled. However, the number of visitors then increased, even going beyond the available number of tickets, leading GEBO head Ahmed Megahed to open the fair for free to the public on its last two days. Cultural events, activities, seminars and workshops were held according to its pre-planned schedule. The turmoil in the wake of the car bombs did not affect the number of the fair's visitors, who considered it to be a pleasant outing and a reference point for anyone interested in the life of the mind. However, questions have been asked regarding the success of the fair for publishers and businesses. Is the Cairo Fair still the proper occasion for launching books on the local and international markets? “It is difficult to answer this question,” said publisher Mohamed Saad in an interview with the Weekly. The CIBF, he pointed out, is now being held against the backdrop of the critical years that Egypt and the Arab region are living through, and this has in turn affected the publishing industry and even threatened its continuation. Many publishers have had to make changes to their businesses, and those who have continued have almost felt they were going on some kind of unpredictable adventure. Saad said that the publishing industry had not only been affected by the decreasing number of books sold, but that it had also been affected by falling numbers of readers, some of them being tempted to buy pirated books instead of legitimate versions. “The great benefit of the CIBF is that it can help rescue the publishing industry in Egypt through providing a bigger market for selling books,” Saad said. Islam Abdel-Moeti, director of the Rawafed Publishing House, described this year's fair as “weak” and similar to last year's. He refused to rate the success of the fair by the large number of visitors, saying that the visitors represented only 30 per cent of book buyers. Most books sold at the fair were bought wholesale, he said. Many publishers participating in the fair were selling academic books which were not influenced by the number of visitors because their clientele was academic and scientific organisations. The number of these had decreased this year. Abdel-Moeti said that in the past universities had bought many copies of a given title, but that due to budgetary restrictions they were now only buying one copy or none at all. Publishing houses selling novels had benefitted from the increased number of visitors, however. Abdel-Moeti said the attacks occurring during the first week of the fair had had negative effects, and the mid-term exams at some universities had also affected visitor numbers. With the beginning of the mid-term vacation the situation had improved, he said. Moussa Ali of the Egyptian-Lebanese Publishing House agreed, saying that many publishers had not been ready for the fair's opening and had delayed their participation until after 25 January because they had received their new publications after the beginning of the fair. Ali said that the book-signing events that his publishing house had held had had positive impacts on sales. Rami Al-Yafi, director of the Merit Publishing House, said that this year's fair had featured a number of activities that had created an atmosphere reminding visitors of the fair in its heyday. “Those responsible exerted tremendous efforts to attract more visitors to the fair this year,” he said. Mohammed Al-Baali, director of the Sefsafa Publishing House, told the Weekly that the number of visitors during the 15 days of the fair had been generally good, though scarcely predictable. Some days the pavilions were completely full, while on others they were deserted, he said. In general, he felt that visitor numbers were down on last year. Islam Hosni of the Kalimat Publishing House said that this year's fair could not be compared to last year's, as far as his company was concerned, since the company had restructured and was now making more material available on line. Small things could have helped in the development of the fair this year, he said, adding that the company had only received the catalogue the week before the opening and it had not included information about each publisher. “This would help both publishers and visitors,” Hosni said. Karam Youssef, director of the bookstore Kuttub Khan, said that the fair had been successful this year in that it had been held at all. She said that this year was the first time that she had participated in the fair, but in general she had been shocked by the low level of cleanliness in some pavilions. Too little information had been provided to visitors and publishers, she said. There were few banners and maps showing directions around the fair, and some pavilions did not seem to be marked at all. Khaled Al-Maali, director of the Al-Gamal Publishing House, said there was too little Arab and foreign participation this year and there were too few foreign books compared to previous years. Not all the Arab countries had been represented and Libya and Syria in particular were absent. “I am not talking about official representation of these countries, but about their publishing companies which were not able to get visas,” Al-Maali said. “Holding the 45th CIBF and participating in it was a real challenge,” said Essam Hemdan from Saqi Publishers, adding that it had been very important for him to participate since it was one of the most important book fairs in the world and not to have participated would have been a great loss. For his part, GEBO chief Ahmed Megahed said that this year's fair had been a “great success” and an opportunity to show the world that Egypt was secure and was overcoming its problems. “The fair is an invitation to people to come to Egypt to enjoy its cultural achievements,” he said. Megahed said that what made him happy on a personal level was the great number of visitors who, despite the threats and rumours, had made an effort to come to the fair during its 15 days. “Egyptian families ignored those threats and flocked to the fair to participate in this great cultural celebration,” he said. The number of visitors this year, Megahed said, exceeded their number during the last two years. “The 250,000 tickets that GEBO provided were all sold, and I had to allow the public to enter for free on the last two days as we did not have enough time to print another lot.” The new cultural faces participating in this year's fair had also been a marked success, he said. Megahed said that the Children's Book Fair (CBF), which took place separately, had been another successful innovation. It had displayed children's books and had provided art workshops for children that had encouraged families to visit the fair. Megahed said that one of his own friends had at first come alone, “but when he saw the Children's Fair he came a second time with his sons.” GEBO was now working on preparations for next year's 46th fair, he said
