By Yasmine Fouda
The 47th Cairo International Book Fair 2016 opened its doors on last Wednesday and will continue till Wednesday the 10th of February, at the Nasr City Fairgrounds. The occasional book fair with its multiple halls, Sour Al-Azbakia Center (for Recycled and Old Books), and streets of Bookstalls is not only one of the oldest & largest fairs worldwide, it is also officially the 2nd most attended book fair in the world after the Frankfurt International Book Fair with an average of over a million visitor annually. This is the best place and time to find unique offers for books – published both locally and internationally – as referred to by visitors, Book Lovers & key Institutional Libraries as publishers and distributors offer their best discounts during the fair.
It is astonishing to see the number of titles stocked and on display over such a vast area that is estimated at 70,000 square meters, so start early if you want to get the full tour. Entry ticket is EGP 1, daily opening hours are from 10.00am to 8.00pm (Halls close at 7.00pm). From the main entry point on Salah Salem Road, on your right the first Building constitutes of various countries & official bodies should you will find The Ministry of Defense stand with its diversified publications, followed by countries stands like the Bahraini stand – one that stands out as the most attractive stand at the fair, the Saudi Arabia Official Stand with samples of publications released by its Universities & Public Libraries, as well as, Oman, Sharjah Book Fair, Greece stand and many other countries.
When you leave that Hall, you will probably hear the music displayed by the artistic groups who are playing southern Egyptian music, you should take your time watching as you could probably see some of the local dancing as well,
the show is practically running most of the day. You will then head towards a street of publishers’ Bookstalls displaying their latest books and other multimedia products released exclusively at the Fair, and as the street extends on your right, you will pass by cultural sessions, authors signing books and the famous Azbakia Center, where you will find old and used books sold at a fraction of its price.
If you had the time to dig in, do not be surprised when you find the rarest of books, as most of the displayed ones are usually owned previously by famous writers, journalists and book collectors. While wandering through the many halls of Egyptian and foreign bookstalls on the sidewalk, you will reach the end of the boulevard where a food court is set, which may be the perfect energy boost time after such a tour, you may as well have a coffee before heading left towards the other side of the Fair where you will find a street with Bookstalls on your left and the Italy Hall on your right. Italy Hall, is the Foreign books lobby, mainly English as well as the French Hall, that lie in the centre of the Hall. MERIC stand inside Italy hall has a nice section of best seller novels that is quite unique and the most recent selection of specialized titles, The Hall is mostly academic titles on display covering various sectors of Arts and Sciences, yet some stands in the Hall have other titles for children, cooking and general readers. Watch out from spending too much time in one Hall as you could unconsciously loose track of time…
