All you need to know about the Cairo International Book Fair

CAIRO – 8 January 2019: The 50th edition of Cairo International Book Fair will kick off on January 23. The General Egyptian Book Organization announced that the Golden Jubilee of the fair will be held in the Fifth Settlement district instead of its usual place in Nasr City because of the week of service, lack of cleanliness and poor organization in the previous place.

Displayed books were often damaged by rain as a result of placing them in tents.

Finally, the previous location is not suitable for the standards of the first public book fair in the world.

On why the previous location in Nasr City is not renovated or rebuilt in order to keep up with the exhibitions’ standards, the General Egyptian Book Organization (GEBO) recounted that it does not build entities, in fact, it only rents buildings during the fair period.

The GEBO is only responsible for the decorations and accommodation process of the publishers. The GEBO also supervises the cultural program of the fair.

The new location is fully equipped according to the latest technology in the field of cultural industries and book marketing. Common problems faced by the publishers have been resolved.

In addition, big spaces are offered to accommodate International participation from a large number of countries around the world.

Also, the new location offers great discounts for Golden Jubilee celebrations. Huge car parking spaces are also present in the fair’s new location.

GEBO announced that 150 buses will be specialized to transport the fair’s visitors to its new place in the Fifth Settlement.

GEBO elaborated that it did not deliberately prevent the Azbakeya book sellers from participation, it had only implemented the decisions taken by the Arab Publisher’s Association in protecting copy rights and combat counterfeit books.

Two other alternatives have been provided instead, first a large suite for discounted books will be created, starting from 1 LE only and unprecedented discounts will be made by different publishing houses on original high demanded books.