The London Fair
14-18 April 2008
Dr. Nasir Al-Ansari, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GEBO, has had talks with the Director of the London Book Fair, and the The Director of the British Council in Egypt, on the required arrangements for Arab participation in the London Fair. Ahmad Salah, head of the Central Administration for Fair affairs at GEBO, took part in those talks which took place in London. An area of 500 m2 has been reserved for the most recent Arabic books, apart from exhibiting a bibliography of Egyptian literature.
Arab publishers will participate, both through the Union of Arab publishers and with the sponsorship of the League of Arab States.
GEBO's participation in European book fairs is a good opportunity for exporting the Egyptian intellectual output. Such participation should provide a ‘smart' window on the best of our contemporary writings, thanks to the mutual cooperation between GEBO and major publishers in the most widely-spread Western languages. The website of that fair is
www.londonbookfair.co.uk

The Geneva Fair
30/4 – 4/5/2008
Dr. Nasir Al-Ansari, GEBO chairman, heading a high-level Egyptian delegation including Ahmad Salah, head of the Central Administration for Fair Affairs, and Dr. Imad Abu-Ghazi, representing the Supreme Council for Culture, visited Geneva to discuss preparations for the participation of Egypt as a guest of honour in the forthcoming Geneva Book Fair 2008. They were received by Mrs. Layla Baha‘ Al-Din, Director of the Egyptian Press and Information Centre in Geneva. It was agreed that an area of 600 m2 be allocated to Egyptian books, and 150 m2 for Egyptian paintings.
It is worthy of note that Geneva is the seat of the Suzan Mubarak Peace Movement. This has added further significance to Egyptian participation in the Geneva book fair. The fair will be accompanied by holding a number of cultural events, such as cultural seminars and folkloric exhibitions. There is a tendency to hold an exhibition of Egyptian antiquities together with the book fair. This should make Egypt's participation comprehensively ‘cultural' in every way. The website of the Fair is :
http://www.salondulivre.ch

The Turin Fair (Torino)
Dr. Nasir al-Ansari, GEBO chairman, heading a delegation including Ahmad Salah, head of the Central Administration for Fair Affairs, and Dr. Ahmad Mugahid, President of the National Centre for Children's Culture, visited Turin, Italy, to discuss preparations for the participation of Egypt as a guest of honour in the Turin Book Fair 2008. The Egyptian Pavilion at the said Fair has been reserved (an area of 800 m2). Apart from books, covering all branches of knowledge to be presented, the Fair will host cultural seminars and artistic soirées.
It is noteworthy that Turin hosts the second largest Museum of Egyptian antiquities, after the Egyptian Museum in Cairo; such are the close relations between the two countries. The website of the Turin fair is :
www.fieralibro.it