‘Al-Sahra bookstore lights up the desert of our lives’
Basra’s Al-Shahra bookstore expands to host cultural events
BASRA — Bibliophiles from across Basra attended the reopening of the Al-Sahra Bookstore in the Ashar area, which has been expanded to include a salon for cultural and literary events.
Basra novelist and story writer Luay Hamza Abbas celebrated the expansion, telling 964media, “Every bookstore illuminates a new part of the world, and the Al-Sahra Bookstore lights up the desert of our lives.” Al-Sahra translates to “desert” in English.
Hamza Al-Abdullah, founder of the Al-Sahra Bookstore, told 964media, “I founded the bookstore in 2018, focusing on philosophical and academic studies, as well as various fields such as linguistics.”
Initially, the bookstore was small, and he gradually developed it to present books “in a manner worthy of readers.” It is entirely self-funded.
Abdullah strives to provide original books, whether authored or translated, and especially to offer the latest releases. “I add to the bookstore what I believe is important for readers to access. For instance, I recently added publications from the Palestinian Studies Foundation, an esteemed institution established in 1963 that focuses on the Palestinian issue. I believe these should be available in libraries across Iraq and the Arab world,” he stated.
Waad Hussein, an attendee, said, “Every project has two aspects: commercial and essential, non-replicable. I believe that the Al-Sahra Bookstore has taken the essential side. It supports the true source and can provide most of the books needed by both writers and readers.”
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