Writing for reading...

Do you remember your first book?

It might have been one of your most precious possessions. Imagine the number of times you would have gone through it from page to page.

Initially it would not have been the text of the book. It might have been the texture of the pages, the font and the smell. Then it was the visuals and the imagination it took us to.

Books are companions and some of books received as gifts still give the vibes of the person who gifted them to us.

Think about it - that person who chose the book for us. They wanted us to read it, and they had felt the information will do good. If they wrote a line or two on any of the pages the value just went up.

The pages might have turned a bit yellow, and some pages might be willing to slip out, but that book has history and you think numerous ways to decline a request for it to be borrowed.

“No, not this one,” your mind would whisper it to you.. So imagine being at the 27th Muscat International Book Fair - it is a haven for students. It was delightful to see young ones browse through a variety of books.

Reading is a culture, the moment a youngster is exposed to someone reading in the family they are fine tuned and the concept of books and readings would be in the back of their minds.

I know of a person who as a child would spend lot of his time in his father’s office and library when he was away and almost read all the books. One can imagine how knowledgeable the mind had become.

Another interesting aspect of the book fair is that it is not just about exploring books and having field trips to the event from schools. Many youngsters have had the opportunity of being volunteers. There are the young scouts present at the location ready to assist if the need be.

Imagine how rich their memories are going to be when they think back about books as they grow up.

This is an era when people continue to wonder whether print will survive or not. But this is a question that has been doing the rounds when radio made its appearance and later the television.

One element that explains why print has continued to thrive is that we write differently in each medium.

In print we want the details, imagination in fiction, exaggeration in poetry and briefness in digital media and in social media they are counted as characters and we want the influencers to be creative and hold a punch. Do we realise there is a connection to emotion in what we read and how it is presented?

Whichever medium we use it is letters and words we are looking at.

The book fairs too have evolved and they incorporate technology. Have always been fascinated with the idea of a reading pen.

Talk to young readers and they tell you they want their authors on social media. They follow them first on social media and then purchase their books. This is a different path compared to the old way of being introduced to books and authors by family members or availability at school libraries.

But this is one for the writers and authors - if you want to reach out to young readers, you need to have a presence in the social media.

If you are a writer but an introvert, still it would be nice to have a presence where young thinkers are hanging out. In this arena the generation gap may not be a big deal.

It is also heartening to see local publishers, booksellers and bookshops taking steps to promote local authors.

This might be an important part of literary history of Oman to see the growing number of authors writing educational, medical and literature as well as fictional. Oman has a rich history in poetry which was passed on from generations, sometimes as oral history and other times to celebrate and cherish.

In Khasab, Musandam, inscription of poetic verses on rocks still stand today written probably by travellers on the move or a poet who wanted to leave his thoughts and rhymes for others to read. In that case they probably were the early publishers.

Print is always there to go back and refer to, it does not disappear with the transmission and airing of it or with the post on the social media.

Let us continue to have bookshelves and fill it with books for what are words with the digital media, if not a connection, access to data or wifi?