A desolate 23rd edition of the International Book Fair at the Doha Exhibition Centre yesterday. Abdul Basit
BY RAYNALD C RIVERA
DOHA: The 23rd Doha International Book Fair wore a desolate look yesterday, with hardly any visitor and shop owners sporting distressed looks desperate to sell hundreds of titles just five days before the fair closes.
“Sales are not good compared to last year,” said Mohammed Gamal of Dar El Rateb Publishing House, who sells 100 different titles of illustrated infopaedia in Arabic language.
The book fair which opened on Wednesday last week depends mostly on students and schools and according to Gamal the number has dwindled precisely because the fair coincides at the time when Qatar is about to celebrate National Day so schools might have been busy of their respective events and preparations.
But other stalls don’t blame National Day for the poor turnout at the fair saying last year’s event also coincided with the celebrations, in fact both fairs have followed exactly the same schedule.
“We keep asking what the reason for the very poor sales is because I remember last year’s book fair also coincided with the National Day but sales were good then,” said a stall owner from Sharjah who sells educational materials for children.
She observed very few students visit the Fair like on Sunday when only a hundred students came.
“I haven’t sold a single book today and yesterday, one of my friends in the other stall had zero sales,” she said, blaming a lack of publicity as the reason for the dismal failure of the fair.
“Perhaps they did not have enough advertisements for the fair that’s why many people don’t know about this,” she added.
A couple of visitors to the Fair yesterday said they never knew of the event until they happened to pass by the Doha Exhibition Centre.
“We didn’t know that there is a book fair here. We have been looking for books that could serve as supplementary materials for our children who are in elementary grades,” said the mother of two.
This year’s fair hosts a total of 419 publishers from 27 countries, but despite that huge number very few stalls are offering books in English.
These few stalls, however, are doing well compared to others, such as American publisher Galaxy Press which is behind the publication of prolific fiction writer L Ron Hubbard’s short stories.
“Sales are very good, very steady. A lot of people are buying books here,” said Mitch Breuer of Galaxy Press, whose books include audio materials helping to develop both reading and listening skills of young learners.
“This is our fifth year here. I was at the Sharjah book fair before and the situation was very similar here; many people look for good books and parents want their kids to read,” said Breuer adding the book fair was an amazing event for people who are interested in reading.
“It has books for all ages and provides all types of people chance to find books they can’t find in other places,” he said.
Running until December 22, the book fair features Japan as the guest of honour with a pavilion featuring activities such as writing visitors’ names using Japanese calligraphy, origami workshops and introduction of Japanese pop culture and latest technology, among others.
The Peninsula
