Erbil to host 14th book fair with record number of participating publishers
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The autonomous Kurdistan Region will host its 14th Erbil International Book Fair on Wednesday for ten days, with the numbers of participating publishing companies increasing each year.
The fair, of which Kurdistan 24 is the media sponsor, will open on Wednesday and will end on April 13.
Some 300 publishing companies from over 21 countries are set to participate in the event. The number of participants increased by almost 20 percent compared to 2018’s October book fair, which roughly 250 companies attended, Hardi Omar, the Administrative Director of the event, told Kurdistan 24 on Monday.
He also mentioned that among the publishing companies, about 40 of them are Kurdish, 200 belong to Arab states, and 50 others to non-Arab countries.
“This year we expanded the space for the fair… in addition to some 300 publishing companies that are set to exhibit their books this year, 50 more companies asked to take part in the event. Due to lack of space, we had to reject their requests,” Omar added.
The books on display will be in different languages, including Kurdish, Arabic, and English.
Books related to religion, namely Islam, are usually some of the top-selling books at the fair. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), however, has prevented the event from publishing books that promote extremist ideologies.
“There is a special committee that oversees and monitors the fair to make sure books supporting extremist ideologies have no presence,” Omar said.
Shahab Zrebar, representing one of the Kurdish publishing companies at the event – Khanai Mukriyan (Mukriyan Home) – told Kurdistan 24 that they would showcase some 350 books of theirs and provide a 50 percent discount to attendees.
Editing by Nadia Riva
(Additional reporting by Diyari Shekha)