Cairo book fair abandoned amid unrest

Biggest literary event in the Arab literary world pulled as Egypt convulsed by protests Literature has been caught up in the protests that have now entered their seventh day in Egypt. The annual Cairo book fair , due to have been held this week, has been abandoned, with many foreign exhibitors left stranded after failing to secure flights to take them out of the country. The fair – the largest and oldest in the Arab world, usually attracting two million visitors and a host of authors – was due to be opened on Saturday 28 January by President Hosni Mubarak, who has hitherto raised the curtain each year. But with protesters demonstrating on the streets against his rule, and curfews imposed across the city, the event was summarily abandoned. The guest of honour, China, withdrew its delegation on the eve of the scheduled opening. Salwa Gaspard, director of small independent publisher Saqi Books which has offices in both London and Beirut, said: “There was no official announcement by fair organisers that the event had been cancelled, but Mubarak did not come. Our representative from Beirut was lucky enough to find a plane home, but people are still there.” Many other international visitors, including representatives from the UK’s Publishers Association and the Frankfurt book fair, cancelled their flights or left ahead of time last week. While the political and humanitarian dimension is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, Gaspard noted in passing that some publishers would also take a major financial blow from the chaos. “Publishers send books ahead because, unlike at other fairs, at Cairo you sell directly to the public. It is a huge organisation and many people will have shipped big quantities … we are a bit pessimistic about getting the books back, and of course there is no insurance for this sort of situation.” In the past, the Cairo book fair has been marred by accusations that books critical to the government or books with explicitly sexual themes have been banned. A number of titles presented by foreign publishers are said to have been seized by the Egyptian authorities, including works by Milan Kundera, Ibrahim Badi, Hanan al-Sheikh and Elias Khoury, with some booksellers arrested at the 2005 event. With widespread disruption to internet and phone connections with Egypt, the Cairo book fair could not be reached for comment. Publishing Egypt Benedicte Page guardian.co.uk

Posted by on January 31, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry