Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Culture Enas Abdel Dayem will open on Wednesday the 51st edition of the Cairo International Book Fair, under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with representatives from seven ministries set to attend the opening ceremony and 40 countries to take part in the festival, the largest and oldest of its kind in the Middle East.
Several ambassadors, including the Ambassador of Senegal, the “guest of honor” at the fair this year, will attend the opening of the festival as well.
The General Egyptian Book Organization (GEPO) has increased the number of buses to 100 for transporting visitors from Cairo’s main squares to the International Exhibition and Convention Center in the distant suburb of New Cairo, which first hosted the fair last year amid protests from some vendors.
Entitled “Egypt-Africa, A Culture of Diversity,” the 51st edition of Cairo’s world-renowned book fair has also increased the number of pavilions to 808, compared to 722 pavilions in 2019, and 900 Egyptian, Arab and global publishing houses are set to take part, in addition to 41 stalls affiliated with vendors from Cairo’s historical used-book market Sour al-Azbakeya, which did not take part in the fair last year.
The book fair will organize hundreds of various cultural and art activates, most of which will revolve around various African cultures.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
