The Cairo International Book Fair is an annual event that takes place during the mid-year school break and holds cultural significance for Egyptian families.
Many people are keen to attend to have an enjoyable time. Parents encourage their children to read by taking them along, allowing them to explore various books that pique their interest, nurture their reading passion, and enhance their awareness and ability to face life’s challenges.
The fair also provides entertainment for the whole family, with a children’s corner offering a wide range of recreational toys, educational tools, workshops to develop children’s skills, and activities promoting healthcare awareness and blood donation campaigns to encourage young people to provide humanitarian services to the community.
Cultural activities such as book signing events, seminars, and poetry evenings bring children and youth closer to successful role models in various fields. The fair includes well-known figures from the world of arts, literature, and sports, attracting young people and children who seek to engage with them, ask questions, and take pictures.
Knowledge Production
The 55th edition of the Cairo International Book Fair, held from January 24th to February 6th, 2024, emphasizes Egypt’s cultural and civilizational leadership from ancient times to the present. The theme of this edition is “Creating Knowledge… Safeguarding Words.”
Dr. Selim Hassan, a prominent Egyptologist, was selected as the figure of the fair for his significant contributions to the understanding of ancient Egyptian history. Additionally, Egyptian children’s literature writer, Yaacoub El Sharouni, was chosen as the fair’s figure for children’s literature.
This year, Norway was chosen as the main guest country for the fair, presenting a significant cultural program featuring a group of Norwegian authors and providing an excellent opportunity to explore Norwegian literature, prominent writers, and trends.
Fair’s New Features
During this year’s visit to the book fair, it was noticed that there was a significant presence of translated books. Several publishing houses have shown interest in translation, unlike the previous years, especially in translating science fiction and fantasy novels. This trend is not limited to award-winning novels or those with freely available copyrights.
In the past, translations were mostly limited to government publishing houses, such as the National Center for Translation or specialized translation publishers. However, modern publishing houses now aim to translate popular novels loved by young people, including works by authors such as Colleen Hoover, Helen Bryan, and Stuart Turton, as well as novels adapted into films or series on global platforms like Netflix. Some novels have been translated into Arabic simultaneously with their original release, such as Brandon Sanderson’s “The Girl of Ink and Stars.”
Inspiring Process
Literary agents also play a significant role in the increasing number of translated books. They regularly visit international fairs, establish global partnerships with agencies outside the Arab world, and then bring back catalogs of new global editions, which they then recommend to Arabic publishing houses.
Many authors find translation to be a profitable business, improving their income compared to the declining financial returns from literary authorship. Additionally, translating a literary text takes less time and provides a substantial financial return compared to the years spent on creating a novel.
Translation itself is an inspiring process; reading famous world literature enriches a writer’s thinking through immersion in the actual translation process and considering the formulation of the original text in a style comprehensible to the reader. It also facilitates learning from translating famous novels.
Ultimately, the reader’s taste governs the prevalence of specific literary genres and plays a decisive role in encouraging and distributing translated novels.
