The art of reading and the love for printed words are some of the virtues that still live with our younger generation as well as the elders in the digital era is the message that the success of the 26th edition of the Muscat International Book Fair (MIBF) which got over on Saturday as is manifested in the joy of the foreign publishers.
Foreign publishers expressed their joy over the astounding success as most of their books found readers and financially, they were in a safe position as the majority of them dealt wholly in books alone.
Sami Ihsyan of Iran's Al Ajwad Publishing house sold nearly 7,400 titles comprising novels, history, poems and travelogue.
"We look at MIBF in both quality and quantity terms. We sold nearly 7,400 books of different genres and it covered our expenses as well," Ihsyan, who came to the Sultanate of Oman with three of his staff, told the Observer.
As many as 40 companies from Kuwait made their presence at the book fair that drew hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre in the last 10 days.
Faleh Fahad of Wajd Books which was formed in 2020 distributed various books predominantly in poetry in English, human management, and the like.
"I'm very happy to have participated in the Muscat International Book Fair after 2 years and the crowd and the sale were amazing," said Fahad, a young entrepreneur who boasts of his startup at the age of 22. This is his 2nd visit to Oman for the book fair.
The book fair also had nearly 114 cultural activities, besides 85 children’s activities aimed at inculcating the habit of reading in the young minds.
Mubarak al Fadhli, Al Taqaseem Books sold titles of known authors who expressed poetry, novels, biography in the book fair.
"I've been in the business for the last 12 years and have attended many Fairs. This year's MIBF was much better than 2020 as the business grew by more than 10 times compared to last time. For me, the highest demand was for novels, history, biography, and poetries," said Mubarak.
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