The curtain came down Thursday (January 3rd) on the 19th edition of Bahrain’s Al-Ayam Cultural Festival, an annual book fair that this year drew more than 50,000 visitors.

The nine-day festival featured at least 150 publishers from 11 Arab countries.

Books on exhibit included titles from fields such as philosophy, psychology, literature, media, economics, business administration, history, medicine, health, sports, education, law, technology, engineering, geography, archaeology, religion and politics.

The festival also included several children’s programmes – drawing, colouring and interactive educational workshops – while adults attended book signings at the Al-Ayam Culture Café.

Festival director Ghassan al-Moumni said he saw a significant increase in the number of publishing houses printing children’s and educational books this year, with more than 20 represented at the festival.

Visitors purchased literature most often, followed by political and religious books, he said.

Author Wajdan Fahd told Al-Shorfa she chose to release her new book at the fair because it embraces young writers, highlights their intellectual and literary creations and supports them well.

Fairs like this are important to the Bahraini and Arab cultural scene, she said.

“We cannot deny that interactive communication has had an impact on books, as [this is] now the main source of information for many people,” she said. “But this does not mean we should overlook books.”

“In fact, there is still a readership that thirsts for books, demands new releases and inquires about many titles,” she added. “I sensed this from the younger generation and older fairgoers.”

Fahd said her book, “Media and Crises” – her second – examines the relationship between the media and crises and suggests how media can be part of the solution rather than the problem.

“My book is the first to document the crisis in Bahrain in 2011 from a historical, political and security perspective, while examining the roles of local players, including decision-makers, political activists, the media and state institutions,” she said.

Festival highlights

Kuwait Publishing House director Ahmed al-Haidar told Al-Shorfa this was the first time his publishing house had participated in the fair, an event widely recognised in the Gulf region.

“The Al-Ayam Fair is an excellent opportunity for the Kuwait Publishing House to inform fairgoers, and youth in particular, about its publications – educational books and novels – which are geared towards young people,” he said.

Some young people are turning away from books, he said, because book covers remain traditional and do not have modern cover designs or thought-provoking titles and subjects.

University student Abdullah al-Khal said he visited the fair to peruse the latest political publications, in particular analyses of the Arab Spring, as well as modern novels and poetry.

Al-Khal said he hopes more well-known Arab publishing houses will participate in future editions of the fair, such as the Syrian publishing house Dar al-Fikr and other well-known publishing houses in Egypt and Lebanon.

He also wishes the fair would include more activities that appeal to all segments of society, not just children.

Kindergarten teacher Zahra Salman told Al-Shorfa she visited the fair to purchase a collection of kindergarten books and educational games.

She was able to buy these books and games, she said, though “prices varied from one pavilion to another and early child education and English language publications were limited in variety.”

For her personal reading, Salman said she loves books on how to raise children, as well as books about religion, psychology, literature and poetry.

“Books in Bahrain are alive and well thanks to the prevailing awareness of the importance of traditional plain-paged books and promoting a culture of reading,” Salman said.