After falling visitor numbers in recent years due to the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, making books seem a lot more expensive, this year’s event, which finishes today, is looking to be a record breaker.
Cairo International Book Fair – 2.5 million visitors and only half-way through?
Book discounts offered at the fair are an attraction, but the big draw is the huge range of books available, both in Arabic and other languages.
Trawling the book fair blogs this past year or two has shown the trend, and blogs like Nada Hosni’s, where she waxes lyrical about the English-language titles she picked up at Cairo, bubble with the excitement these events generate.
In my alter ego as administrator of the International Indie Author Facebook Group I take a closer look at Nada Hosny’s blog in the context of authors marketing their books to the Arab world.
Other blogs tell how Cairo visitors are arriving with long lists of books to buy for family and friends, and hauling around suitcases full of bought and paid-for titles, travelling between the halls in style.
Let the train take the strain travelling between book halls at the Cairo IBF.
This post is one of four today on the Arab Renaissance.
Arab Renaissance 3: Baghdad’s Al Mutanabbi Book Street thrives again
