Abdulmonem Kamil (left) at his booth.
Doha, Qatar: The 35th Doha International Book Fair (DIBF) kicked off with strong participation from both regional and international publishers.
The Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) transformed into a vast landscape of cultural exchange in a testament to the fair’s global appeal, with visitors from many different parts of the world wandering between the event’s many bookshelves.
Rows of publishing houses lined up at DIBF, each with a unique story waiting to be discovered.
Nur-Al Huda Mohammed, the head of the Azza Publishing House, told The Peninsula that he has over a decade’s worth of participations in DIBF.
Mohammed, who described himself as “someone whose sole professions has always been books”, boasts a career which further reinforces this statement, having held positions as the Secretary General of the Sudanese Publishers Union, and is Sudan’s representative at the Arab Publishers Association.
He said that the Doha International Book Fair has cemented itself among “the most prominent Arab and international book fairs.”
Nur-Al Huda Mohammed
Azza, the name of the publishing house, is a name that is deeply embedded in Sudanese history, he explained. “The name Azza itself is symbolic of Sudan. It was named after Azza Mohammed Abdullah, the wife of the Sudanese hero Ali Abd al-Latif.”
Mohammed told The Peninsula the Azza Publishing House has represented Sudan in many books fairs globally, including in Frankfurt, Germany in 2005, and that he personally was the first Sudanese to participate in international book fairs when he participated in Cairo in 1984.
Another publisher with many DIBF participations to their name, Abdulmonem Kamil from Dar El Gamaa El Gadida, told The Peninsula that he has been working in publishing for approximately 40 years.
He said that the El Gamaa El Gadida, established approximately 1987, is considered one of the largest legal publishing houses in the Middle East, “covering all branches of legal knowledge.”
Kamil said that he had decided to go into this field after having graduated from the University of Alexandria’s Faculty of Law 43 years ago.
With 2,357 titles to their credit, the bulk of their works contain doctorate and master’s theses, he said.
The Egyptian publishing house’s first participation in the Doha International Book Fair came in the late 90s, Kamil said, while describing DIBF as among the finest Arab book fairs in terms of organization and presentation.
“DIBF attracts a large number of publishers; it is held in a quite sizeable space and the fair itself is well coordinated” the former Vice Chairman of the Egyptian Publishers Association told The Peninsula.
Started in 1972 and held initially every two years before becoming an annual event in 2002, the 35th edition of the Doha International Book Fair features over 900 booths hosting 520 publishing houses from 37 countries.
