Book Fair launched within activities of Dandara Festival

CAIRO - 19 February 2020: Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem announced the launch of a book fair within the activities of the first Dandara Festival of Music and Singing in Qena Governorate, which will be held from Feb. 27 to Mar. 3.

The book fair will be held in Qena’s Girls Club, and the festival’s main personality in its first edition is late legendary poet Abdel Rahman el-Abnoudi.

Abdel Dayem confirmed that the Ministry of Culture praised the role of MP Mahmoud Abdel Salam el-Dabaa and the civil society institutions in supporting the book fair. The minister added that the book fair aims to spread enlightenment through reading, one of the important methods for reshaping awareness.

As for choosing late poet Abdel Rahman el-Abnoudi as the main personality of the festival and its book fair, Abdel Dayem stated that the iconic cultural creators should be remembered by the younger generations. Abnoudi was chosen as the main personality as he is one of the sons of Qena Governorate who left an eternal imprint in Arab poetry.

It is noteworthy that Dandara Festival's book fair is organized by the General Egyptian Book Organization headed by Haitham al-Haj in cooperation with the General Authority for Cultural Palaces headed by Ahmed Awad.

Furthermore, the program of the festival includes 10 different concerts in six days for various Egyptian superstars, including Black Tema Ensemble, Medhat Saleh, West El Balad Ensemble, Ali al-Hajjar, Mai Farouk, Luxor folkloric troupe, Marimba player Nessma Abdel Aziz, Dina al-Wedidi, Hisham Abbas, and Massar Egbary Ensemble. The activities will be held in Dandara Temple, Qena Culture Palace and South Valley University.