An official initiative is launched to promote reading for all, especially among youths. Nevine Al-Aref reviews the plan while Dina Ezzat maps out indicators of book consumption Entitled "Nation and Belonging" Mrs Suzanne Mubarak this week inaugurated the 18th Reading for All campaign which this year is slightly different. In addition to its usual cultural activities and forums, the campaign launched "The One Million Books" which aims at attracting more youth, especially those of economically disadvantaged communities, to read more by providing libraries, cultural, youth and children centres in Egypt with one million books to be distributed for free. "It is really a great opportunity to make books available for free to the largest segment of the country," Nasser El-Ansari, head of the General Book Authority (GEBO), told Al-Ahram Weekly. El-Ansari said 500 outlets around the nation will be inaugurated to sell the newest books. "The outlets, financed by the Social Development Fund and the National Council for Youths, is meant to provide 1,000 job opportunities. It will be run by ambitious youngsters who wish to join the entrepreneurial world," El-Ansari added. The first outlet was inaugurated at Al-Gezira Club. El-Ansari said the GEBO will provide 1,000 books it has published and which will be distributed and sold for free at GEBO libraries, the National Centre for Youth, cultural centres and libraries on wheels in public gardens. The books, said El-Ansari, are carefully selected by the campaign's supreme committee headed by Fawzi Fahmi and under the supervision of Mrs Mubarak. Asked how it can be guaranteed that people will not resell the books for money, El-Ansari argued the books cannot be resold since they will be sealed with the campaign and GEBO logos showing that the book is being distributed free of charge as part of the One Million Book project. Ahmed Megahed, head of the National Centre for Children (NCC), describes the initiative as "brilliant" and "a concrete and positive achievement in support of the Reading for All campaign which always provides new and good books at low prices." As for people whose income does not afford them the luxury of spending even a couple of pounds to buy a book, Megahed said they will have it for free, "so there will be no excuse for not reading." Megahed added that the NCC will distribute 100 children's books of its own production involving adventure, science, science fiction and space, at a cultural seminar to be held every Thursday at the children's garden in Al-Sayeda Zeinab. To avoid haphazard distribution, every child will choose his or her own book. The participation of the NCC in the Reading for All campaign started only last year. This year the NCC will share in the festivities by publishing two encyclopaedias on the concept of belonging in the minds of children, and children's songs. The second, to be published in Egypt's governorates, includes folklore songs sung by children or to children. It, too, will be for free, said Megahed. Megahed said all cultural projects under the auspicious of Mrs Mubarak have had an impact on the cultural life of children and youth. "The Suzanne Mubarak competition in children's literature has contributed to the type and concept of children's books, especially in drawings, layout, printing and topics. Competition among Arab and Egyptian publishers has been generated to create these kinds of books," said Megahed, adding that the Reading for All plan will be held all year, not just in summer. A million books The setting at the downtown café Riche indicates that an intense literary mood is in. A room packed with a keen audience falls into silence as Lebanese poet Jumana Haddad recites a few verses of her new collection of poems. The audience attending the recitation "The return of Lillith" includes the ordinary Cairene with a literary interest as well as some prominent figures including renowned novelists Bahaa Taher and Said Mekkawi. The scene might offer an exaggerated account of the interest in reading and book consumption in Cairo. However, it is not a misleading image. According to owners of bookstores and publishers who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly, in Cairo, as in other cities across the nation, even if to a lesser degree, there is an unmistakable growing interest in reading books. "I would say that despite the economic hardships that usually forces people to economise and cut down expenses to the very basics, there is certainly a fair flow of people who pop in every day to buy books," said Abdel-Sattar Mohamed, director of the downtown branch of the General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO). Mohamed's bookstore is certainly not one of the most elegant in Cairo. The shelves could use some dusting. And the display of books could use more creativity. However, the flow of clients on a Monday afternoon is indicative. Mohamed is kept relatively busy by elderly ladies and gentlemen picking up copies of the classics of literature, history and sociology; middle-aged clients looking for titles of Egyptian and other Arab novelists and historians and children's books; and younger men and women inquiring about the memoirs of politicians and even the translations of Agatha Christie. Of the GEBO clientele there is always the question concerning the annual "Reading for All" campaign which has for the past 18 years been providing many of these books and much more at inexpensive prices. "The fact of the matter is that during close to two decades this campaign has contributed a great deal to maintaining a good book market going," said Mohamed. The GEBO director offers endless examples of the titles that Reading for All has been providing for what he qualifies as "a few mere pounds". He is particularly proud of the history and civilisation volumes that have been made available in Arabic for only a fraction of their original price. He is equally impressed with the "many, many titles of children's books that come out in decent quality at no more than LE2 per copy." Abdel-Sattar says he knows for a fact that had it not been for this campaign many would have been unable to buy and read the books they want. "The GEBO books are not at all expensive. We offer impressive titles at very reasonable prices [an average of LE8 to LE20] but still our clients prefer to wait for the month of July when we start displaying the titles printed under the umbrella of Reading for All." Last year, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, the Reading for All sponsor, announced the campaign would stretch throughout the year. The bulk of the books, however, were made available during the summer and a few copies remain available at GEBO and other outlets. This year, according to the launch statement issued by Mrs Mubarak earlier in the week, the campaign would include the distribution of a million books for free to young men and women. On Saturday evening, Mrs Mubarak signed the first copies and handed them out to school and university students as part of the launch. Editor-in-Chief of Al-Helal magazine Magdi El-Daqaq said the "positive" impact of Reading for All goes "way beyond" the scope of the books printed by the government under the direct umbrella of the campaign. "This campaign is not just about making books available at the most affordable prices possible but also about sustaining an interest in reading. This is crucial for the books industry in general." Along with his monthly magazine that addresses a wide range of political, social and economic issues, El-Daqaq produces a monthly Al-Helal book and Al-Helal novel. Al-Helal products are not expensive, however, El-Daqaq noticed that the sales of his products do pick up significantly along with the launch of the national reading campaign. Reading for All tends to publish books by prominent writers printed by private or government publishing houses. Al-Helal, by contrast, offers mostly new books and even at times new writers. "But once readers have established a link with books by reading subsidised copies of the classics they immediately go to look for new books as well, especially when still offered at reasonable prices," said Al-Daqaq. He added, "and as such, while the Reading for All campaign is selling Taha Hussein, I am presenting potentially new Taha Husseins." The range of prices of books, by Egyptian and other Arab writers, at the public and private bookstores around Cairo is certainly wide, from an average of LE7 to LE70, especially for books printed outside of Egypt. Foreign books, now a firmly growing market according to administrators of bookstores, reach LE200. "The demand is there. Obviously the more affordable books get more interest but the expensive books are also requested, and often especially ordered, by keen readers who have the interest and the means," commented Sabrine Aldjaili, assistant manager at the Heliopolis headquarters of the upscale Diwan Bookstore. Aldjaili is endlessly thinking of new techniques to attract her readers "and to keep them coming because this is the most important thing." By holding book signing events and book discussions and informing customers to new books, bestsellers and recommended books through e-mails, Aldjaili, like other managers of a host of trendy bookstores, has been able to keep expanding interest in Diwan's offers. But she says that the growing interest and debate in books in general and the more attention accorded by the media to issues related to books "certainly help". "Books have certainly been more discussed and debated in the past few years than before. This is a fact. And it is a fact that has helped the book market a great deal," said Raouf Ashem, a senior bookstore manager at Madbouli, one of the city's most prominent bookstores. Ashem notices "a fast growing interest in novels". According to the assessment of this manager who has been in the business for close to 30 years "the interest demonstrated by the public in novels -- and I am talking about modern and mostly unknown novelists -- is big , really big." Ashem partially attributes the huge success of Alaa Al-Aswani's Yacoubian Building, first published by Madbouli, for attracting readers to modern writers. He also credits the growing number of "men and women writers who offer really diversified novels" on gender issues, politics and even simple romance. "Previously, you would step into a bookstore and find the titles of a limited number of authors. Today, you can have hundreds of authors, many writing for the first time. There is a new spirit and a new willingness on the part of publishers to give new writers a chance and this is certainly stimulating interest on the part of the readers," Ashem said. Along with novels there is an equal interest in books related to current events and religion. Then comes IT books (almost the only popular science-oriented titles in Egypt) and political and history subjects.
