06:50 PM

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Books – Muhammad Shaker:

Today, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, witnessed the opening of the 55th session of the Cairo International Book Fair, which is held under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and carries the slogan “We Create Knowledge… We Preserve the Word,” and its activities will be held during the period from January 25 to January 6. Next February, at the Egypt International Exhibition Center.

The opening activities were attended by a number of ministers, the Governor of Cairo, a number of ambassadors, and a number of creative people, writers, and media professionals, in addition to Hilde Klemtsdal, the Norwegian ambassador to Cairo.

On the sidelines of the opening, the Prime Minister stressed that this event is one of the most important bridges linking Egyptian culture to other Arab and international streams, and it also represents an extension of the enlightening role and influence that Egypt always contributes to various sciences and knowledge, and therefore the state is keen to sponsor the exhibition and provide all means. Which ensures its good organization, to carry out its mission in consolidating Egypt’s cultural leadership.

For her part, Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani, Minister of Culture, thanked President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, for his generous sponsorship of the exhibition, as well as appreciation to the Prime Minister for opening this year’s edition, which reflects the state’s support for consecrating Egypt’s cultural and civilizational status.

Following the opening, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly inspected a large part of the exhibition halls, and visited a number of different publishing houses, to learn about their contents and the activities they offer, and to listen to the opinions and experiences of the exhibitors, as the Prime Minister was keen to visit a number of pavilions at the exhibition, including the Ministry of Defense pavilion, Which contained an explanation of the details of the pavilion and its works through hologram technology, which the Ministry’s pavilion applies for the first time in the context of technological development and digital transformation. The presentation tells, through holograms, about the life of Field Marshal Ahmed Badawi, the character of the pavilion in the exhibition this year.

Dr. Mostafa Madbouly also visited the Ministry of Interior’s pavilion, which provides special facilities for people with special abilities and people of determination. The pavilion displays its publications that provide a clear definition of the Ministry’s activities with regard to combating terrorism, national security, the Police College curricula, and more. He also visited the pavilion of the National Center for Persons with Disabilities, to view On the activities and publications presented to the exhibition goers, as well as the pavilion of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the pavilion of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, where the head of the agency presented an overview of the latest publications contained in the pavilion, as well as the pavilion of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, and the pavilion of the “Egyptian Hands Initiative,” where Major General Hisham Amna, Minister of Local Development, gave an overview of the developments of the initiative and the exhibits included in the pavilion, and the handicrafts exhibition held on its sidelines. The Prime Minister also visited the pavilion of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration.

During his tour of the exhibition, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly visited the pavilion of the State of Norway, which is the guest of honor of the fifty-fifth edition of the Cairo International Book Fair, which was designed to reflect Norwegian culture. The Norwegian official at the exhibition was keen to shake hands with the Prime Minister, expressing her happiness at the presence of the State of Norway as the guest of honor this year. The session was part of the Cairo International Book Fair, stressing the importance of the cultural element in consolidating relations between Egypt and Norway.

At the same time, the Prime Minister was keen to visit the pavilion of the Egyptian General Book Authority. To review the Authority’s latest publications of ancient heritage books, including books by the writer Taha Hussein, the Encyclopedia of Description of Egypt, and the Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. He also visited a number of pavilions of cultural bodies, various publishing houses, and the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language, to inspect the exhibits and its latest publications.

During his tour of the exhibition, the Prime Minister visited the pavilion of the Administrative Control Authority, and learned about a number of activities and events organized by the Authority through its pavilion at the exhibition, as well as its efforts to spread awareness of the national anti-corruption strategy. He also viewed a number of theses and scientific research presented in the pavilion, and This was displayed on interactive screens, which also displayed the efforts of the National Anti-Corruption Academy. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly also inspected the pavilion of the Financial Regulatory Authority, in addition to the pavilion of the Information and Decision Support Center in the Council of Ministers, as well as the pavilion of the Emirati “Trends” Center for Research and Consultation, which cooperates with the Center Information pursuant to a cooperation protocol in this regard.

During his tour, the Prime Minister shook hands with a number of young volunteers at the exhibition, and thanked them for the effort they are making in helping the exhibition goers, through the various volunteer committees.

In turn, the Minister of Culture confirmed that the Kingdom of Norway is a guest of honor for this session, which provides broad horizons for cultural and creative exchange. The name of the Egyptologist, Dr. Selim Hassan, the character of the exhibition, was chosen because of his major role in consolidating the Egyptian identity. As well as choosing the name of the great children’s writer, Yacoub Al-Sharouni, to be the character of this year’s Children’s Fair, as he is one of the most prominent pioneers of children’s literature in the Arab world, with his abundant literary production inspired by Egyptian folklore, pointing out that the poster for the Cairo International Book Fair for 2024 came from Designed by Dr. Ashraf Reda, Professor of Fine Arts, expressing the spirit of ancient Egyptian art and the splendor of distinctive Arabic calligraphy.

The minister added that the current session of the exhibition is being held on an area of ​​80,000 square meters, with five exhibition halls, and the number of Egyptian, Arab and foreign publishers and official bodies participating reaches 1,200 publishing houses, from 70 countries around the world, an increase of 153 publishers over the last session, despite the circumstances. Currently, the number of exhibitors reaches 5,250 this year.

Dr. Ahmed Bahi El-Din, Chairman of the Egyptian General Book Authority, also explained that the cultural program for the 55th session will express Egypt’s cultural position in human civilization, as the program includes approximately 550 events, held throughout the days of the exhibition, in 7 halls and a full hall. For children’s books and activities, and places for liberal arts, he pointed out the continued cooperation with national institutions that support the Egyptian cultural project. The exhibition will also announce its prizes, which are sponsored by the National Bank.

He added that the cultural program of the Kingdom of Norway is the guest of honor of the 55th session of the exhibition, which extends over a period of 13 days, as it participates in a large cultural program, which includes a group of writers and creative people in Norway, to introduce the Arab world to Norwegian culture, in addition to children’s literature in Norway, and it also celebrates the writer Norwegian Nobel “Jon Fosse”; An entire day is devoted to him at the exhibition to discuss his various works, writings, and poems, and it also celebrates Henrik Ibsen, known as the “Father of Norwegian Theater.” The focus will be on children’s literature through the participation of a number of Norwegian authors and illustrators of children’s books in the events, given the role that children’s literature plays. Pivotal in shaping minds and instilling values.

Bahi El-Din noted that the cultural program for children in the new session of the exhibition includes a group of activities that will be presented inside the hall designated for children’s activities, including artistic performances and a number of other cultural programs. The children’s program also addresses the theme of “The Character of the Children’s Exhibition, the great writer Yaqoub Al-Sharouni.” », where 5 seminars are presented in the main hall, to discuss a range of topics, including: “History and Heritage, the Young Adult Novel, and Criticism, according to Yacoub al-Sharouni”, in which an elite group of children’s literature writers and specialists participate.

Bahi El-Din explained that this year the exhibition created a new axis entitled “One-Day Conference,” which includes 6 conferences, including: the “Artificial Intelligence Technologies” conference, in cooperation with the Misr Informatics University, and the “Translation from Arabic – A Bridge to Civilization” conference. With the participation of the Ministries of Endowments and Culture, the “Intellectual Property…Protecting Creativity in the New Republic” conference, the “Taha Hussein” conference, and the “Nazik al-Malaika” conference, the exhibition also celebrates new cultural projects that include: “The Collection of Egyptian Poetry” and “Recovering Taha Hussein.” , “Tales of Victory,” and “Aqul,” which are projects created by the Book Authority to consolidate Egyptian thought in its relationship with the entire world.

The head of the Egyptian General Book Authority stressed that the exhibition is keen to achieve Egypt’s Vision 2030, in the role of institutional and community partnerships. For the second session in a row, it continues to present several initiatives and projects with official institutions, such as: the “Dawai” initiative with the National Council for Women, which is the national initiative to empower girls, make their voices heard, and have them obtain basic skills and services, and the continuation of the “Awareness” initiative with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, and celebrate By issuing 200 titles from the “Vision – A Vision for Youth” project with the Ministry of Endowments, it also witnesses the participation of 94 Egyptian and Arab ministries and institutions, including, for example: the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Interior, the Administrative Control Authority represented by the “National Anti-Corruption Academy,” and the Ministry of Endowments. The Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Social Solidarity, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, Dar Al-Ifta, the Information and Decision Support Center of the Council of Ministers, the presidential initiative “A Decent Life,” and the Judges Club.

Bahi El-Din pointed out that, in support of the publishing industry and Egyptian publishers in general, a pavilion was allocated to emerging publishing houses that applied to participate in the current session, and they did not meet the conditions for participation in terms of the number of publications, as the pavilion includes a large group of small publishing houses that applied to participate. The Arab Publishers Union also announced an initiative by its Arab members under the slogan “Everyone Reads at the Cairo International Book Fair in its 55th session,” by granting discounts of up to 50% to readers, cultural bodies and institutions.

The head of the Egyptian General Book Authority added that the professional program continues its participation in the Cairo International Book Fair, for the third year in a row, after the great success it achieved over the past two sessions, so the professional program – Papyrus 3 comes this year, including a group of seminars related to the book and publishing industry, In addition to the “Cairo Calling” program, which aims to help publishers, agents and cultural bodies from all over the world reach Egyptian and Arab publishers and communicate with them at the Cairo International Book Fair, by spending 3 days at the beginning of the fair in the process of identifying the most suitable publishing houses to choose from. Some publishers to work with him.

Bahi El-Din pointed out that to facilitate visitors to the exhibition in its 55th session, the Egyptian General Book Authority provides, through the digital platform, many services, including enabling visitors to obtain entry tickets to the Cairo International Book Fair, through electronic payment applications, as well as The authority worked on a complete digital transformation; It has begun the process of automating the subscription service for exhibitions from publishers by submitting to the exhibition through the platform, uploading the information of the publishing house and the books participating in the exhibition, and paying the subscription fees electronically.