Following their experience at the Frankfurt Book Fair last year, Nevine El-Aref reports, Cairo Book Fair officials seem intent on living up to international standards Inaugurated yesterday by President Hosni Mubarak at the Nasr City Fairgrounds, under the singularly cheering title of "Horizons of Renaissance and Reform", in its 37th round the Cairo International Book Fair (26 January-8 February) invokes the spirit of the Frankfurt Book Fair, at which the Arab world was guest of honour last October. According to the official view of things, at least, exposure to the world's most prestigious book exhibition has elicited a major revision of the fair's modus operandi; and this year's round, with its improved logistics, tighter schedule and more reader- friendly approach to organisation, heralds the start of a new era in the history of this most popular of Arab cultural events. "This year's round is like a newborn baby -- it will reach maturity next year," Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni told Al-Ahram Weekly. "It's the beginning of a dramatic change that will lay the foundations for reforming and reconstituting the fair." Though a high-profile event, he went on, the fair requires "greater discipline and stricter regulation". The fact that it has been "of gargantuan proportions" since its genesis in 1968, he explained, has resulted in its organisation being disregarded. "But after attending the Frankfurt Book Fair last year, I believe I know how to establish a successful book fair that lives up to the standards of Egypt's cultural and intellectual life." On the return of the Egyptian delegation from Frankfurt, Hosni continued, immediately a committee was set up -- headed by Farouk Abdel-Salam, first undersecretary of state at the Ministry -- to come up with "a comprehensive development scheme" intended not only to reform but effectively revolutionise the fair... In many ways the fair seems to be a reincarnation of its predecessors, yet the four million fair-goers expected in Nasr City are likely to notice a difference in the way things look -- for one thing. The infrastructure of the fair has been completely redesigned, with many more facilities provided: a high-end information office, maps and signs, electricity-powered transportation to shorten the huge distances separating buildings -- a frequent complaint in previous years -- as well as foldout maps distributed free of charge with the tickets to detail locations and routes -- down to attractive carrier bags bearing the fair's logo. "To improve architectural harmony, the architect who designed the Arab pavilion at Frankfurt was asked to re-plan the entire site," the General Egyptian Book Organisation's new director, writer Wahid Abdel-Meguid, told the Weekly. In an attempt to keep limit the scale of the event, thereby reducing the possibility of chaos, Abdel-Meguid added, publishers who are not members of the Arab Publishers Union are excluded this years, resulting in a decrease in the general statistics: 516 publishers from 25 countries as opposed to 578 from 85 last year. Of the 516 publishers who will present, 433 are Egyptian, 58 Arab and 25 foreign. Any reduction in size, however minimal, can only be seen in a positive light. For his part Abdel-Salam announced a busy schedule, with four programmes celebrating the birth of historian Abdel-Rahman Al-Jabarti (250 years ago), the first French edition of A Thousand and One Nights (300 years ago), the reign of Mohamed Ali Pasha (200 years ago) and the publication of Ibn Batouta's travels (700 years ago). Guests of honour include the well-known French writer Robert Solé and South African Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer. Book discussions at both the formal venues and the more relaxed "tents" feature the latest work by, among others, Anis Mansour, Atef El- Ghamri, Hassan Farahat and Ahmed Mostagir. A newly introduced string of seminars, "Qadaya fil- Thaqafa" (Cultural Issues), supplements both topical frameworks (image culture, the role of the cultural journal etc.) and discussions of exciting new writing with debates about such complex local questions as the development of a multi-party system in the political realm, the role of the intellectual in society and the prospects of the publishing industry. A programme of screenings to run through the duration of the fair offers an opportunity to review the classics of Egyptian cinema. Among the reforms to be introduced as of next year, following the example of Frankfurt, Hosni has announced the decision to select a country as guest of honour each year -- starting, not surprisingly, with Germany, which will contribute over 10,000 titles, with numerous writers, publishers and literary figures attending. The German presentation will also figure a series of fringe events to take place throughout the country -- exhibitions, screenings, musical and theatrical performances -- through the duration of the fair. As of next year, the Minister added, the organisation of the fair will be undertaken by a specialised company and any activity not directly related to books will be eliminated -- resolutions to which Yousri Hassan, secretary general of the Egyptian Authors Association, wholeheartedly agrees. "The fair has turned into a kind of cultural bazaar, having strayed from its intended route -- and so this plan for bringing it back on course is an excellent development," he told the Weekly. Ramadan entertainment is one thing, he went on, the publishing industry quite another. So we can only support plans to exclude the former from the activities of the book fair, which is now on its way to becoming an active, respectable venue for the latter. The Cairo Book Fair yearly hosts innumerable seminars on topics ranging from the artistic to the literary. For comprehensive information see the official web site at www.cibf.org/en/index.cfmwww.cibf.org/en/index.cfm/i THE 37th CAIRO International Book Fair will be no walk in the park for the French Centre for Culture and Cooperation in Cairo (CFCC). In a refurbished pavilion equipped to accommodate this year's flurry of activities, the Canadian and Swiss embassies have joined forces with the CFCC, the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), the Centre for Economic, Judicial and Social Studies and Documentation (CEDEJ) and the Institute for Research Development (IRD) to offer a host of lectures, forums and film screenings centred around four principal themes -- "Placement in the Novel"; "Translation, Publishing and Distribution"; "The Political and Economic Aspect of Books"; and "The Discussion of Ideas". A bevy of academics, researchers, journalists and literary dignitaries from Egypt, France, Switzerland, Canada, Belgium and Lebanon are expected to participate in the activities, which will take off following a celebration of Gamal El-Ghitani's Tagalliat (Revelations), due for publication in French by Le Seuil in February. Termed "the literary phenomenon", El-Ghitani's work will be presented by Vincent Bardier, director of the Point Sagesse series at the prestigious house. Setting off the rounds of discussions will be a forum entitled "Glimpses of Childhood Memories", in which Hoda Wasfi, advisor to the minister of culture, will moderate Canadian novelists Louise Desjardins and Mona Lotayef Ghattas, French writer Olivier Roland, Swiss-Egyptian novelist Fawzeya Assad and Egyptian writers Bahaa Taher, Hala El-Badri, Miral El-Tahawi and Hamdi Abu-Golail; while, addressing the first topic of choice, three discussion forums that will benefit from simultaneous translation promise much heated debate: "Place as character", "The city in the novel" and "Alienation as a place". They will bring together, among others, Lebanese novelist and poet Iskander Habash, Egyptian writers Alaa El-Aswani, Khayri Shalabi, Somaya Ramadan, and professor Amina Rashid. The French Pavilion will host the spiky issue of translation, organising a number of lectures that cover issues of cooperation in contemporary literature. Beginning with "The Problematic of Literary Translation", the series also provides for "Translation and Co-Publishing: The Example of the Francophone Book", moderated by Philippe Geoff, head of the International Association of Francophone Writers, and ends with "Distribution in France and the Arab World". In an effort to bolster the spirit of competition endemic to French culture, an art competition entitled "Drawing for Asia" will take place daily -- side by side with a writing workshop organised in cooperation with the French publishing house Rapport D'étape. Sponsored by the Canadian Embassy, on the other hand, is a lecture addressing "The Role of Publications Pertaining to Women", to which Ginette Bilouquin, Rashida Timola, Nadia Refaat and Nawal El-Saadawi will contribute. Yet as far as women go, the indisputable highlight of events will be a discussion forum with South African novelist Nadine Gordimer, winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize -- and one of the Book Fair's guests of honour this year.
