The Egyptian Publishers Association, headed by Said Abdo, will launch an exhibition dedicated to the children’s book and literature in Egyptian Public Library yard from November 25 to December 6, 2020.
This exhibition takes place within framework of Association’s exhibition committee to organize a number of local publishing events.
This is the first time an exhibition for Children’s book is held within Egyptian Opera House surroundings. 32 publishing houses specialized in all fields of science and knowledge as well as Egyptian Ministry of Culture represented by the Egyptian General Book Authority with more than 970 titles as well as Dar al-Ma‘arif participate in the fair. The exhibition is open from ten in the morning until eight in the evening.
The participation of Dar al-Ma‘arif also gives much needed weight to the event. Dar al-Ma‘arif is one of the oldest publishing houses in the Arab world and plays an important role in making readily available new editions of classic works of Arabic literature, scholarship, and translations at affordable prices. Dar al-Ma‘arif’s role in re-publishing classic works of literature and scholarship is especially important because it keeps this literature alive and available for readers. The house was founded originally as a printing press in 1890 by Lebanese scholar and writer Naguib Mitri and his brother Shafiq. Shortly thereafter the brothers expanded their operations to include publishing, in the process making Dar al-Ma‘arif one of the first private publishing houses in Egypt. The house remained private until 1961 when, in the midst of a larger push by the Egyptian government under Nasser to purchase and control independent publishing houses, Dar al-Ma‘arif became one of the government’s most important publishing houses, a status it retains today. While the house has undergone numerous changes and developments over its more than 120 years of existence, one of the most important came in 1976 with the establishment of the weekly political and social magazine, October. Today the larger umbrella organization, of the same name, prides itself on being morally grounded in its efforts to spread knowledge not just in Egypt, but throughout the Middle East.
Perhaps the best definition about this publishing phenomena was expressed by Sheikh Nahyan, the Emirati Minister of Culture who said, ” Dar al-Ma‘arif is not a company or an institution, but rather a country of culture on which generations are raised.”
