Egypt’s Faysal Book Fair to become an annual event: Ahmed Megahed

Ahram Online, Sunday 28 Aug 2011

The General Egyptian Book Organisation has also announced a new project for electronic publishing

During the closing evening of the Ramadan Book Fair hosted in the Faysal neighbourhood, Ahmed Megahed, head of the General Egyptian Book Organisation announced that the Ramadan fair will become an annual event for the holy month. The discussion surrounding the future of the publishing and distribution of books featured Helmy El-Namnam, CEO for Dar El-Hilal publishing house, Mohamed Rashad, head of Publishers Union, and Mohamed Hashim, owner and manager of Dar Merit.

Megahed announced that the organisation is starting a project for electronic publishing, considering it an important medium that should be kept up with. At the same time, he stressed the importance of private publishers, insisting that the relationship between the organization and the Publishers Union is complementary, not competitive.

At the same time, El-Namnam, expressed his appreciation for the idea of the book fair in the neighbourhood, stating culture must reach out to the deprived public. He confirmed that sales in the book fair exceeded all expectations, and some days resembled those of the International Book Fair. Rashad was pleased with the success of the event, confirming the hypothesis that there are indeed readers in Egypt but they cannot find books, due to poor distribution. He applauds the idea presented by Ahmed Megahed for the establishment of an Egyptian distribution company.

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