China to publish 5K electronic Egyptian books

CAIRO – 28 January 2018: Haitham el-Hag, head of the Egyptian General Authority for Books, signed a cooperation protocol with the head of the House of Wisdom for Media and Culture in China on January 27 on the sidelines of the Cairo International Book Fair.

The House of Wisdom has previously signed a memorandum of understanding with the Egyptian General Authority for Books to acquire the publishing rights of the authority's electronic books. Under this official agreement, which will last for two years, the House of Wisdom will put 5,000 electronic books in a Knowledge bank in China to be available for the Chinese students, who are studying the Arabic language in China.

This cooperation protocol is tailor made to widely spread the Egyptian civilization in China through books and literature to promote the deep-rooted Egyptian culture. The House of Wisdom is one of the most prominent cultural organisations in China that aims to extend bridges of communication between China and Arab countries in the cultural field.

"El Sharkawy and the Social Vision" was the name of the seminar that took place on January 27 to honour the late veteran writer Abdel Rahaman el-Sharakawy who was chosen to be the fair’s “person of the year” because of his work on the renewal of religious discourse as well as his renowned theatrical writing.

The first day of the 49th Cairo International Book Fair witnessed the attendance of a large number of people despite the cold weather.


All the gates of the fair were tightly secured by the Ministry of Interior's security forces.


The 49th annual Cairo International Book Fair was launched on Saturday; it will run from January 27 to February 10. Seventeen Arab countries as well as 10 other countries from around the world participate in the fair.


Minister of Culture, Enas Abdel Dayem, Minister of Antiquities, Khaled Anany, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Yasser el-Kady, and Minister of Military Production, Mohamed el-Assar, launched this year’s edition of the fair on January 26.


The Ministry of Education will coordinate the first week of the second semester in tandem with the book fair’s second week as a “Reading Week”.


“The books industry in Egypt is the core of its soft powers, because it is the origin of all kinds of art,” Egyptian publisher Adel el-Masry stated during the press conference held on January 10 to announce all the details of the 49th edition.


The art camp of this edition will bear the name of the late great Egyptian artist Shadia. The 49th edition poster was designed by the book fair’s permanent committee in collaboration with the Egyptian Fine Arts Sector.


Farid Dahman, the deputy Algerian ambassador previously announced that about 10 percent of the participating publishing houses are Algerian. Algeria has been chosen as a guest of honour in this year’s fair, after Egypt was chosen as guest of honour for a similar fair in Algeria last year.


Hag previously announced that the number of publishing houses participating in the Cairo International Book Fair has significantly increased this year in comparison to last year.


“The increase in publishing houses’ participation in the 49th edition is 120 percent in comparison to last year,” Hag stated.


Hag added that about 144 new publishing houses are participating in the book fair this year for the first time.


“The Fair’s Authority suggested launching a second round of the book fair in October. From our side as the Egyptian General Authority for Books, we are ready to cooperate in the launching of any book fair. We are currently discussing this proposal,” Hag said.


The 49th edition is hosting a berth of new activities for the first time, such as theatre events, cinema halls and fine arts halls, in addition to increasing the number of books dedicated to children.


Al-Azhar is taking part in the fair for the second year running. Its participation aims to communicate with the members of society to inform them about the efforts made to achieve peace and combat extremism and terrorism and also to brief them on the issue of Jerusalem.