7 edition of Herekol book fair continues in Syria’s Qamishli
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The seventh Herekol Book Fair continues for the third day in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria, with the participation of 60 publishing houses from around the world despite delay.
The book fair was launched on Oct.28 and will last for four days. It was named after a prominent Kurdish writer, Hussein Shawish, locally known as Herekol, who died in a car crash in July 19, 2016. The first edition of the book fair was launched in 2017.
The book fair is scheduled to launch annually on July, 20, with the sponsorship of the Culture Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). This year, however, it was postponed twice due Turkish attacks on areas in northeastern Syria
For the first time, publishing houses from Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon, and European countries like Italy and Belgium participated in the seventh edition of the annual book fair.
Abdulmajid Khalaf, a member of the preparatory committee of the fair, told North Press, “For four months, we have contacted with publishing houses to have as many of them participate in the book fair and secure books from all regions.”
He added that they presented about 140,000 books under 14,000 different titles.
On the other hand, Saleh Haydo, a researcher in Kurdish folklore, believes “Nowadays, there are a large number of books but the number of readers are declining due to social media platforms, which makes it easier to read online.”