Cairo’s Substitute ‘Ramadan Book Fair’ Begins Friday
I
won’t make the opening week of the 2011 “not a substitute for the Cairo International Book Fair” Fair, as it coincides with the annual ArabLit summer vacation.*
But the second half of the August 5-25 fair will be hard to resist.
It won’t be the same as Cairo’s January book fair/moulid: This fair will feature books from just 85 of Egypt’s 400+ publishing houses, in addition to 11 publishers from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the KSA, and Algeria who probably hadn’t retrieved their books since January. The fair does offer 20-50 percent off, but Cairo’s major bookstores are also offering deep summer discounts.
Also, this fair will be held on crowded Faisal Street—not the fairgrounds—with a split schedule of 11am – 4pm and 9pm – 1am. The whole thing will require good deal of effort from the 85 participating publishers.
Fatima al-Boudi, the owner of Dar al-Ain publishing, said that’s one reason she won’t sell her books at the fair. She told Al Masry Al Youm:
It will be more costly, and the morning shift will receive minimal visitors, given the heat. … People usually read religious books during Ramadan, rather than literature or intellectual books. This fair will only serve Salafi publishing houses.
Nonetheless, al-Boudi will speak at a panel on August 25, and there are some interesting events. And, well, it is a book fair.
Schedule from Ahram Online, with my comments and links:
Friday 5 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Opening ceremony
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Nile Band
Saturday 6 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Revolution Youth Coalition talk, featuring guests from 6 April Youth Movement, ElBaradei Campaign, Muslim Brotherhood youth
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Egyptian band with music and singing
Sunday 7 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Poets Evening, featuring renown Egyptian poets including Abdel-Moety Hegazy, Bahaa Gajeen and others (Read Hegazy on free verse, in this article by Youssef Rakha. )
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Banadra Band for Arabic takht music
Monday 8 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Egyptian novels evening, featuring authors including Amina Zeidan, Gamal Zaki Makar and Hamdi Abu Golayel. (My review of Amina Zaydan’s Red Wine and Ursula Lindsey’s review of Abu Golayel’s A Dog with No Tail.)
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Hala Band (street stage)
Tuesday 9 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Discussion about trade unions and legal statutes
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: “Korsi” theatre performance, followed by singing by artist Sherine
Wednesday 10 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Cultural views in political parties platform, featuring representatives from the Freedom and Justice party of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian Socialist Party, the Democratic Front party
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Monufia band with Arabic music
Thursday 11 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Second poets night, featuring Farouk Shousha and others (A profile of Farouk Shousha in Al-Ahram Weekly)
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Azza Balbaa and an evening of singing for love of the nation
Friday 12 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Discussion about the stage and the street
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Marionette puppet show
Saturday 13 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Discussion about Al-Azhar manifesto, featuring representatives from various religious groups
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Baraweez band with Nubian Music
Sunday 14 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Egyptian media evening, featuring presenters of famous TV shows such as Yousry Fouday, Farida Shoubashy and Safwat El-Alem
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Singing
Monday 15 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Poets evening, including guest Amgad Said from Iraq
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Sawaki band
Tuesday 16 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Egyptian Cinema and its crisis, featuring famous director Ali Badrakhan and others (Egyptian filmmakers’ statement by Ali Badrakhan, Tahrir.)
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Tannura dance band
Wednesday 17 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Intellectuals and the public, featuring politicians and thinkers including Amr Hamzawy , Ammar Ali Hassan and Hala Moustafa.
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Poetry reading
Thursday 18 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Caricature in the square, featuring famous cartoonists including Amr Selim and Ahmed Anwar among others. (Amr Selim profiled at Al Ahram Weekly in “Of cartoons and revolution.” )
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Ramy Essam, “singer of the square” (Essam on YouTube.)
Friday 19 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Poets night
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Evening with an Egyptian clown
Saturday 20 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Social networking and the revolution
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Singer Ali El-Helbawy (El-Helbawy on YouTube.)
Sunday 21 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Journalism after January 25 Revolution, featuring famous journalists and editors such as Ibrahim Eissa , Khaled El-Balshy and Wael Kandil among others.
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Alexandrian singer Ibrahim
Monday 22 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Sitcom phenomenon, featuring actors from famous sitcoms
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Shakawy Choir
Tuesday 23 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Poets evening, featuring renown poet Sayed Hegab among others (Profile of Sayed Hegab in Al Ahram: “Son of a widowed city.” He said he views himself as a “professional reader and an amateur poet,” and added, “”I do not write poetry unless it attacks me, though I dedicate all my time and senses to it. But I wait for it to come as a dear visitor.” )
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Evening with singer Ahmed Ali El-Haggar
Wednesday 24 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: Towards an Egyptian Cultural Constitution
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Religious singing by the central band of the Cultural Palaces
Thursday 25 August
9:30 – 11:00 pm: The future of the book – between publishing and distribution, featuring publishers including Fatma El-Boudy from Al-Ain, Saad Abdel-Rahman from the Cultural Palaces and others
11:30 pm – 1:00 am: Eskenderella band
*I will be gone from August 5-12; no, it has nothing to do with Mubarak’s trial; and please don’t burgle my apartment. But if you would like to scribble about Arabic literature (in translation or otherwise) in my absence, please do.
August 3, 2011 @ 8:49 am
Yay (minus the note about serving Salafi publishing houses)! Do you know if/when the book fair will come to Alex this time?
August 3, 2011 @ 9:00 am
They said they’re hosting book fairs around the country, but then I only saw an announcement about Aswan… Will certainly say if I see anything. Good excuse for a trip north!
August 3, 2011 @ 9:09 pm
Farouk Shousha, Abdilmu`ti Higazy? I guess the cultural sphere is still pre-revolution
August 4, 2011 @ 6:36 am
You read Youssef’s piece, right? Although did you see the novel conference rundown back pre-Jan25? This is better. At least you can hear Ramy Essam’s singing here.
And an evening with an Egyptian clown! Maybe I’ll go for that.
August 3, 2011 @ 10:49 pm
Hi Marcia, I live 5 mins from where the book fair is being held, so let me know if you’re coming down and we can have a coffee or something. I’ll be away from the 19th though
August 4, 2011 @ 6:38 am
OK, I’m looking at the schedule…maybe the 18th looks like the most fun? I’ll let you know. And you’ll have to tell me how chaotic it looks. Maybe you can take a few pictures??