The voices on stage underline how young Libya’s literary cohort is.

Benghazi’s fifth International Book Fair, held under the theme “Generations Meet and Visions Renew”, opened on 3 November at the National Library, with its accompanying cultural programme running until 12 November.

The event has become a rare and significant fixture in Libya’s publishing calendar, bringing together publishing houses, cultural organisations, writers and readers in a city whose cultural infrastructure has endured years of conflict and disruption.

Nights of the Novel

The fair’s evening programme has distinguished itself from the trade-floor business of the day. Organised by the Cultural Committee under Chairwoman Rehab Shneib, the sessions combine poetry readings, literary analysis and panel discussion, with a deliberate emphasis on showcasing young talent.

One seminar, moderated by writer Awatif Al-Shehibi, examined youth writing in the Libyan novel. Panellists discussed how stories begin – from character or from concept – the authors who shaped them, and the architecture of the novel itself: realism, short realism, magical realism, and the competing influences of international, Arab and local literary schools.

A Generation Comes of Age

The voices on stage underline how young Libya’s literary cohort is. Qusai Balamaskin, born in 1996 in Brak Al-Shati and a graduate of the Faculty of Science and Technology, presented his novel Aqab, published by Dar Al-Nahda Al-Arabiya in Lebanon – a cross-border publishing route that remains essential for Libyan authors.

The book received a grant from the Libyan Novel Workshop, run under the Arete Foundation for Culture and Arts, a Tripoli-based organisation founded in 2011 that has long worked to expose young Libyan artists and writers to new ideas and approaches.

The View From The Beach

For international publishers, three signals stand out. First, state and institutional support for literature in eastern Libya is tangible, with backing from the General Command and the National Library.

Secondly, the pipeline from workshop to grant to Lebanese publication shows a functioning, if fragile, route to market for Libyan fiction.

Thirdly, the fair’s intergenerational framing suggests a readership being actively rebuilt – an audience, not merely a catalogue.

The stated aim of the programme – to open dialogue between generations and address the challenges facing creative writers – is ambitious. But in a country where literary infrastructure must be reconstructed as much as celebrated, Benghazi’s book-fair evenings are doing a great job of making it happen.

This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsfeed.