CAIRO: The owners of Egyptian publishing houses welcomed the suggestion to hold an Arab book fair in the Gazeera garden by the Cairo Opera House. The suggestion was made by Ahmed al-Gameely, director of Waa'd publishing house. The book fair will be held in a three-kilometer-square area from 8-18 September, as al-Gameely received permission from Cairo governorate to hold the fair. The publishing house owners said the new book fair will be better than the current book fair in Faisal Street, which will be held from today until August 25. “I refused to participate in the book fair at Faisal because it coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, and the publishing houses that participate in the fair will face a recession,” said Madbouly, owner of Madbouly publishing house. He added that the book fair will only be visited after evening prayers, which is not a suitable time for selling or buying. He said the Gazeera book fair will be better than the current book fair. Mohamed Salah, owner of al-Dar publishing house, agreed with Madbouly. He said the Gazeera book fair will be a good chance to activate the book markets, particularly as this year's Cairo International Book Fair was cancelled in the wake of Egypt's January uprising.
