Under the royal patronage, the 20th Amman International Book Fair, organized by the Union of Jordanian Publishers in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and the Greater Amman Municipality, will open gates on September 23, as part of the Kingdom’s centennial celebrations of the establishment of the Jordanian state.
360 local, Arab, and international publishing houses from 20 countries will participate in the fair. Besides Jordan; Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, USA, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, India, and China will be the other participants in the exhibition, which will continue until October 2, at Amman International Motor Show AIMS.
The book fair, for which the centennial logo was adopted as an official slogan, will feature diverse cultural programmes including poetry evenings, short stories, and youth activities, in addition to special seminars on the reality of culture and media in Jordan during a hundred years, and the challenges facing the industry makers. Besides focus on publishing and its future, and the role of literary prizes in revitalizing the publishing movement, pioneers in the publishing sector will also be honoured.
The exhibition celebrates the late Jordanian poet Mustafa Wahbi Tal, also known by his pen name “Arar”, and widely regarded as Jordan’s most prominent poet, who was chosen as the personality of the cultural exhibition for the year 2021. A special symposium will also be held where a number of writers would highlight Arar’s role in enriching the poetic movement.
The exhibition, which preserved the slogan “Jerusalem: The capital of Palestine” for this session as in the previous ones, also devoted another symposium within its cultural programme on “Jerusalem in Dramatic Documentation” to confirm the position of Jordan, its leadership, and that of its people, in rejecting the schemes that target the Arabism of Jerusalem and the Hashemite guardianship.
The director of the exhibition, Jaber Abu Faris, expressed his thanks and appreciation to His Majesty King Abdullah II for his continuous patronage of the Amman International Book Fair, indicating that this effectively contributed to the continuation and sustainability of the exhibition until it became a prominent Jordanian cultural event on the map of Arab and international fairs, and an important meeting station of the publishing industry in the Arab world. He told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that this year’s exhibition has a unique feature, as it will be within the general framework of celebrating the centenary, accompanied by a cultural programme that aligns with the national plan to celebrate this great occasion, pointing to the importance of this station in drawing inspiration from the bright history of Jordan, and looking forward to the future.
