Minister of Culture H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani and Minister of State and Qatar National Library President H E Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari inaugurating the book fair at Souq Waqif yesterday. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
Doha: Minister of Culture H E Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani inaugurated the first edition of the Ramadan Book Fair at Souq Waqif yesterday.
The opening ceremony was also attended by Minister of State and Qatar National Library President H E Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari.
The Minister toured the kiosks along with other officials, and interacted with exhibitors. The first day was attended by a large number of families and people from all walks of life.
The Minister of Culture also visited stalls of government and non-government organisations at the book fair including the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Endowment (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs, Qatar Charity, and Qatar Reads — part of Qatar Foundation, among others.
Talking on the sidelines of the event, Exhibition Manager Jassim Ahmed Al Buainain said the book fair is a good opportunity to invest in reading, learning and developing religious, cultural and social knowledge by selecting a good book from the fair.
“The book fair is aimed at promoting a culture of reading in the country by providing books to readers. The event also supports publishing houses in reaching the readers. It is held in the holy month of Ramadan to focus especially on religious books. Al Jisra Theatre will hold a number of cultural seminars throughout the book fair. Children's theatre will be organising stage shows for children during the nine-day event. And the workshops on Islamic arts will also take place daily,” he added.
On choosing Souq Waqif as the venue of the fair, he said this is to attract a large number of visitors.
The book fair is being organised by the Ministry of Culture, and represented by Qatar Cultural and Heritage Events.
It will run from 8pm to 12 midnight daily until April 16. Other programmes lined up as part of the fair include cultural events, art workshops, children's activities including a puppet show, theatrical performances for kids, and various competitions.
Several talks will also take place at different kiosks. Theatrical performances will run every day until April 16, starting from 9pm.
Meanwhile, art workshops by the Visual Art Center will be until April 15 from 9pm to 12 midnight.
Topics include Iznik art: Identifying the history of the Iznik tiles, types of decoration found in the blue tiles and the ceramic tiles; introducing the types of Arabic fonts; simulation of nature with a typographical template; Islamic architecture; and drawing Islamic architecture using water colours.
Thirteen local publishing houses joined for the first edition of the event along with 35 publishers from nine countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, India and Australia.
Local publishing houses participating in the book fair are Qatar University Press, Imam Bukhari House, House of Culture, Samarkand Library, Visual Arts Centre, Nabja House for Publishing and Distribution, and Dar Al Sharq, among others.
