The International Cairo Book Fair is set to begin today at the Fair Grounds in Nasr City. This year's fair will be held from 28 January to 10 February. The annual fair is one of the most important cultural events in the Arab world, but this year the book fair starts without the participation of Algeria. At a press conference held before the opening of the fair, Mohamed Saber, head of the General Egyptian Book Organization, announced that “around 31 countries will take part in this year's book fair, including 16 Arab and 15 foreign countries, with Russia as the guest of honor and Denmark, Poland and Kazakhstan participating for the first time.” Despite the financial crisis, the number of participating publishers has reached 800 according to Saber--35 more than last year's fair. “Steps have been taken to enhance the fair's standards of quality, including the availability of wireless Internet connections,” said Saber. This year the book fair will also host several exhibitions, including a caricature exhibition, a High Dam photos exhibition commemorating the dam's 50th anniversary in collaboration with Russia, an exhibition of Suez Canal paintings and documents on the occasion of the canal's 140th anniversary, and a documentary exhibition about Jerusalem. The book fair will also focus on three cultural issues: scientific development, the global financial crisis and creativity in the Arabic novel. Moreover, there will be poetry evenings with readings and discussions of the works of poets from different generations. The fair will focus on international and regional cultural issues, such as translation, publishing and intellectual property rights. “The organization will present 92 new books in different branches of knowledge," Saber announced at the conference. "Among these books are the 'The Spirit of Laws,' unpublished since 1950, the complete works of Dostoevsky, unpublished since the sixties, 'Literature of Outsiders in Islam' and 'One Thousand and One Arabian Nights,' in addition to another 350 titles that were published before the fair was held.”
