Bahrain book fair should serve as a cultural bridge

As yet another edition of Bahrain's very own cultural festival kicks off, any hopes of having a much more enhanced and developed event are blown away. No matter how many of these I go to or attend, it seems that every year is the same. We don't move forward, or backward.

Book fairs and cultural festivals as such are considered great opportunities for not only publishers and distributors, but also authors and their readers and unless these two have a much more involved and direct participation in these events, their validity and significance will remain at the lowest.

These events should not be like a big open flea market for books, where publishers, distributors and bookstores toss in their titles across the exhibition floor by the bulk - without categorisation or thought over presentation - for visitors and readers to simply pass by without really noticing them.

What purpose would that serve? We see most of the bookstores and exhibitors displaying very much the same titles. Hundreds and thousands of them stacked over shelves, on the floor and on tables and more often than not, the shop or stand keeper does not have the slightest clue as to what the books being sold are about.

So the book fair becomes a lot like a flea market and I wouldn't be surprised if we soon find books being sold by the kilos in there! Books are unique products, unlike food or electronic gadgets. You can't market them the same way.

In many of the international book fairs, visitors are served real treats with many special events and appearances by their favourite authors.There are new books being launched, book signings and even talks for readers and visitors to enjoy and be part of. But another vital component of such exhibitions is the fact that it serves as a meeting point for publishers, distributors, agents and authors; a market place for the local publishing industry. Such is the case with the Frankfurt Book Fair and the London Book Fair, two of the leading and biggest book fairs worldwide.

Organisers of this years' Frankfurt Book Fair, being held from Wednesday to October 8, are expecting up to 280,000 visitors to attend the four-day international event, with a focus this year on Indian literature. Last year's version highlighted Arabic literature in translation. A total of 7,000 exhibitors from 100 countries will be displaying 350,000 titles - these are enormous figures and just goes to show the sheer size of the publishing industry and its significance.

The potential is great and Bahrain is in desperate need of such an initiative, for a country that is seeing constant development projects in economy, tourism and property, the arts must not be left behind. Bahrain can take the lead now and establish a much worthy and better-staged book fair that will not only attract publishers and distributors from Arab countries, but from around the world and it can serve as a cultural bridge between the Western and Eastern/Arabic literature.

Basically, what Bahrain needs is to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and create a book fair that would be exceptional in every way.

Because the last thing we need, is to trip over a stack of books tossed on the floor.


*Appeared in GDN Vol XXIX, NO. 195, Sunday, 1 October 2006