Al Bilad newspaper Jihad Shabaro to Al-Bilad: The cessation of the Bahrain International Book Fair caused a loss for Arab publishers
– 2024-03-08 21:41:15
Jahid Shabaro, General Manager of the Arab House of Sciences “Publishers,” believes that the cessation of the Bahrain International Book Fair caused a great loss to Arab publishers because it covered Bahrain and the eastern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and that among the most important problems of distributing Arabic books are forgery, photocopying, and the lack of major libraries compared to the number of publishers.
Al-Bilad met with Chebaro on the occasion of his visit to the Kingdom and held this meeting with him:
– What do you think about the market for imitating, copying and photocopying books, which is a popular market in our Arab world?
Unfortunately, this is a very difficult problem for publishers and authors, both an ethical and an economic problem. As publishers, we rely mainly on authors from all Arab countries, and these authors in turn depend on the rights that provide them with financial profit, but the process of forgery and imitation affects the income of authors from selling books as well as publishers. Counterfeiting is not limited to traditional books, but has also affected electronic books.
– The Bahrain International Book Fair stopped five years ago.. What did this exhibition represent for you as publishers?
The Bahrain International Book Fair was one of the most important fairs for us as publishers for several reasons, including its complete coverage of Bahrain, and also its attracting readers from the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but its cessation caused us not only a financial loss; Even at the level of relations with Bahraini writers and authors who were attending to sign their new publications.
– What do you think of e-books and are they able to pull the rug out from under traditional books?
Until now, e-books have not been able to occupy a large space in the publishing market. As we know, it is developing with the rising generation that prefers reading with smart devices. In general, I see that the traditional book market is the basis.
Are there consistent trends in Arab censorship?
The situation varies from one country to another. The Bahrain market, for example, is a free market in general, as is the Saudi market, and in Kuwait there is what is called self-censorship.
As publishers, we also self-censor, avoiding books that are unsuitable for society, and informing the author of our true position.
– What is the problem of distributing Arabic books?
The most important problems of distributing Arabic books include forgery and photocopying, as we mentioned above. Secondly, there are few libraries in our communities. If we notice carefully, the number of publishers in our Arab world exceeds the number of libraries. Take, for example, the State of Kuwait, which has about 60 or more publishers, compared to the presence of 6 main libraries, as well as in Lebanon, the Emirates, and others. This creates a problem because libraries are forced to focus on new books only and in a limited space.
The most famous Arabic slogan in the field of publishing was launched by Louis Awad when he said: Cairo writes, Beirut prints, and Iraq reads. But today all studies indicate that Arabs do not read.. Your comment?
Arabs read, but not as much as the West, and their focus is more on quick, light novels.
– What is the current prevailing wave of books? As we know, religious and Marxist books became popular after the setback of 1967..?
According to my experience, I can say that the demand for political and religious books has decreased, and the popular ones today are science fiction books that young people are attracted to, self-development books, and children’s and young adult books.
