Baghdad book fair opens with 615 publishers from 28 countries

BAGHDAD — The 27th Baghdad International Book Fair opened on Wednesday with 615 publishing houses and research centres from 28 countries, running to Sept. 12 with six or seven seminars a day.

The fair is launching a “Read” initiative giving visitors free coupons towards books, said organising committee head Abdul Wahab al-Radhi, and China is appearing for the first time.

Oman is taking part for the first time in 27 years, with a pavilion focused on historical and documentary publications including Salem al-Siyabi’s history of Oman, said Sami al-Abri, a cultural researcher at the Omani culture ministry. Iraqi visitors had also been asking after the poetry of Abu Muslim al-Bahlani, he said.

Mauritania’s Diwan al-Shanaqita came to introduce Iraqi and Arab readers to Mauritanian scholarship. “Participating in the Baghdad fair is a source of great pride for us,” said Youssef Mohammed Fayez, adding that Mauritanian publishers rarely attend such fairs. Readers had shown interest in works of Maliki jurisprudence, he said, including a commentary on the Mukhtasar Khalil and a study of scholarly thought in Shinqit not previously available in Baghdad.

Former Baghdad governor Abdul Muttalib al-Alawi said he had watched attendance, publisher numbers and new titles change across editions, and would be looking for works on public policy and administration.