More than 361,230 titles from 715 publishing houses from 27 countries are up for a grabs at the 26th Muscat International Book Fair inaugurated by His Highness Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham al Said, Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre (OCEC) on Thursday. The Governorate of South Al Sharqiyah is the Guest of Honour.
The official opening was held at a glittering ceremony attended by Dr Abdullah bin Nasser al Harrasi, Minister of Information; Ali al Jabri, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Information; officials; and book lovers.
HH Sayyid Theyazin toured the halls of the Book Fair and visited several pavilions and wings of official establishments and authorities, including those of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth; the Ministry of Information; the National Records and Archives Authority (NRAA); the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation; the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning; and the Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit. He also toured other wings, including those of participating countries. As many as 114 cultural activities, among them 29 unique to the South Al Sharqiyah Governorate, will be staged. Moreover, the number of children’s activities will be 85.
The 10-day festival of letters which will run till March 5 has titles for every person with different tastes and aptitudes, according to the Ministry of Information which is the organiser.
Nearly 3 decades on, the festival has become one of the largest book fairs in the Arabian Gulf.
The entry to the fair is through registration in line with strict Covid-19 precautionary measures.
There are five exhibition halls strategically divided and they feature a variety of titles. While the Hall No 1 will display foreign writers, Hall No 2 is dedicated to Arab writers. Hall No 3 is for office suites, Hall No 4 and Hall No 5 are other publishing houses. More open booths are constructed to accommodate the visitors as per Covid-19 protocols.
A number of workshops are being organised in two halls (Ibn Duraid and Al Awtabi) in the exhibition area, while activities for children and families, including a reading corner, are arranged to facilitate easy navigation.
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