The 67th Beirut Arab International Book Fair opened on Friday on the Lebanese capital’s waterfront, with about 163 publishers taking part, including 23 Arab publishing houses, and a cultural programme featuring nearly 100 events. The fair runs for 10 days until 18 October this month, bringing Arabic and Francophone publications together in one space after years of multiple fairs and organising bodies.
Nawaf Salam opens Beirut Arab Book Fair
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam opened the fair’s events in the presence of Syrian Culture Minister Mohammed Yassin Saleh. In his opening speech, Salam said: “A book cannot stop a war on its own, a novel cannot rebuild a village, and a poem cannot repair an economy, but ideas shape choices, and choices determine the fate of peoples.”
Salam added that the battle to revive Lebanon could not be separated from confronting ignorance, extremism and isolation, or from the effort to entrench free and responsible thinking and expand the areas of common ground among Lebanese people. He expressed hope that Beirut would regain its place in the book industry, not merely as an extension of a glorious past, but as a renewed centre for creativity, translation, publishing and dialogue.
The prime minister said he hoped the fair would go beyond being an annual occasion for displaying and selling books to become a space for encounters between generations and ideas, a platform for raising new questions, and a catalyst for initiatives that would ensure reading and knowledge remained part of people’s lives throughout the year.
A cultural programme bringing together literature, thought and the arts
Alongside displays of new publications, the fair offers intellectual, political and literary seminars, lectures and meetings with writers and novelists, as well as poetry and music evenings and book-signing events. The programme also includes a range of activities for children and students. Highlights include meetings with Algerian novelist Waciny Laredj about his book “Al-Rimiti…
Anthems of Embers and Fire”, and with Jordanian novelist Jalal Barjas. The fair also hosts meetings discussing the Arabic novel, changes in writing and the relationship between literature and contemporary issues. It will pay tribute to Lebanese journalist and intellectual Ghassan Tueni on the centenary of his birth, with Marwan Hamadeh, Nassif Hitti and Fouad Siniora taking part. It will also revisit the life of intellectual Sheikh Subhi al-Saleh on the centenary of his birth.
The fair’s themes are not limited to literature, extending to politics, history and identity. They include memoirs and experiences in journalism and politics, discussions on Lebanon’s political system, and readings of Beirut’s cultural memory. The programme also raises questions related to artificial intelligence, digital transformation and the future of libraries.
Shawqi Bzie sees fair as a treasure for the city
Lebanese writer and poet Shawqi Bzie described the book fair as one of the few treasures and islands left to the city. He said its visitors eagerly await it so they can walk through its aisles, considering it not only a cultural phenomenon but also a social one that unites Lebanese people, brings together the country’s distant regions and gives them a moment of warmth reminiscent of Beirut in the 1950s and 1960s.
Bzie added that his deep attachment to the fair, which he has regularly visited for decades, had made it a measure of rapidly advancing age. He said one fairgoer might ask another how old he was, only to be told that he had reached “seventy book fairs”, reflecting the connection generations of readers have with this cultural occasion.
At the end of his speech, Salam said Beirut might grow tired, bleed and feel its heart weighed down by sorrow, but it did not surrender, lose its memory or abandon its mission. He added: “Beirut that reads does not die, Beirut that writes is not defeated, and Beirut that opens its doors to books will remain, as it always has, a city of life, a capital of the free word and an Arab beacon that never goes out.” The Beirut Arab International Book Fair was first held in 1956.
The current edition opened with a singing performance by artist Reema Khashish. It also offers a daily programme for children aged six to 14, featuring puppet shows, storytelling, a theatrical performance, a cultural quiz and educational games centred on the Arabic language.
