2nd Kurdish Book Fair concludes in Qamishli city
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The second edition of the Kurdish Book Fair concluded on Wednesday in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria, after lasting for days, amid low turnout.
On Monday, the second Kurdish Book Fair kicked off in the city of Qamishli.
The event, which was organized by the Culture Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), included 12,140 books, comprising 3,035 titles.
Abdulmajeed Khalaf, a member of the Preparatory Committee tasked with organizing the event, told North Press, “The turnout this year for the fair was low due to the high prices.”
The books covered a wide array of genres including linguistics, culture, environment, history, literature and philosophy, among other things, according to Khalaf.
The books displayed were in the Kurdish language dialects of Kurmanji, Zazaki and Sorani.
He attributed the high prices to translation and copyrights.
“The Kurdish language has suffered a lot; it was suppressed and prevented [from being taught and spoken],” he said. “This, in turn, has greatly affected people’s interest to read in it.”
The aim of this fair, he concluded, is to uplift the Kurdish language and encourage a culture of reading in it.