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The Kuwait International Book Fair launched its 46th edition today, Wednesday, under the slogan (Your Passion Has a Book), with the participation of 29 countries and 486 publishing houses displaying 171,000 titles.
The National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature is organizing the exhibition, which will continue until the second of next month.
Abdul Rahman Al-Mutairi, Minister of Information and Chairman of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature, said that the large international participation in the exhibition “reflects Kuwait’s prestigious cultural status.”
The exhibition will be held at the International Fairgrounds in the Mishrif area, with 18 Arab and 11 foreign countries participating, and it includes 11,000 new book titles from 2023.
Al-Mutairi said – in a speech he delivered after a tour of the exhibition’s pavilions – that the slogan of this session indicates that there is a book for every enthusiast in all fields, and it is compatible with his interests, no matter how different those interests are.
He said that this occasion represents “an opportunity for everyone to attend and learn about the exhibition’s publications that suit their interests and desires.”
tomorrow
opening #Kuwait_International_BookFair 46At 10 am
International Fairgrounds – Mishrif pic.twitter.com/jIVRV9NjxM
– The National Council for Culture, Arts and Literature (@kw_nccal) November 21, 2023
The exhibition’s various pavilions are spread over an area of 18,000 square metres, in 3 halls, and are divided into categories, including Arabic books, foreign books, government publishing houses, private houses, in addition to children’s literature, and others.
Kuwaiti theaters intend to distribute a free book to every school student who visits the exhibition, with a total of about 20,000 books.
Poet Fahd Al-Askar
This year, the exhibition celebrates the late Kuwaiti poet Fahd Al-Askar (1917-1951), where the performer Hussein Dashti embodied his character in reality, with his well-known uniform, glasses, cane, and rosary, wandering around the exhibition areas, shaking hands with visitors and taking pictures with him.
Dashti told Reuters, “How I wished the army was there.”
He added that the goal of the embodiment process is “to revive this character with the beautiful ideas it carries… I live the character of this poet by reading his poems, so I feel this poet’s suffering.”
The exhibition includes other activities, including “Amateur Musicians,” “Artists’ Mural,” “You Are the Cover Star,” “Majlis in a Picture,” interactive games, browsing first editions, in addition to a paper and electronic publishing debate, and a creative student awards competition.
Critic Saad Al-Bazai
The personality of the Kuwait International Book Fair this year is the Saudi critic and translator Saad Al-Bazai.
Al-Bazai has about 30 books and many translations, and his books include “Desert Culture,” “The Literary Critic’s Guide,” “The Jewish Component in Western Civilization,” “The Narrative of Cities,” “The Concerns of the Mind,” “The Anxiety of Knowledge,” and “The Migration of Concepts.”
The cultural activity also includes the lecture “The Crisis of Modern Arab Thought” by Dr. Muhammad Al-Rumaihi, and “Between a Writer and a Writer” sessions, in which the most prominent publications are presented, including the novel “The War” by the Omani novelist Muhammad Al-Yahyaei, winner of the “Katara” Prize for Arabic Novel 2023.
The cultural activity also includes evenings with a number of poets, including the Iraqi Saad Al-Yasiri, the Kuwaiti Jaber Al-Naama, the Kuwaiti Maryam Al-Abdali, the Jordanian Nidal Burqan, in addition to the Saudi poet Shteiwi Al-Ghaithi.
The exhibition also hosts a number of young Omani poets, Hisham Al-Saqri, Muntadhar Al-Musawi and Talal Al-Salti, to talk about the Omani poetic experience. A symposium will also be held on the occasion of the centenary of the Iraqi poet Nazik Al-Malaika.
