Puntland Hosts First Garowe International Book Fair

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Puntland Hosts First Garowe International Book Fair

Hundreds of publishers, poets, authors, culture buffs and book lovers flocked the East Africa University (EAU) campus for the first Garowe International Book Fair on Thursday.

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Hundreds of publishers, poets, authors, culture buffs and book lovers flocked the East Africa University (EAU) campus for the first Garowe International Book Fair on Thursday.

Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali alongside Education Minister and parliamentarians officially opened the three-day event, which features panel sessions and speeches by more than 30 keynote speakers.

Some 572 books; dictionaries, peer-reviewed journals, children’s books, fictional, literature, cultural, and academic and general books have been placed on display.

The Garowe International Book Fair was co-organized by Somali Institute for Development and Research Analysis (SIDRA) and SCANSOM Publishers.

Among the speakers lined up for the event are Prof Lidwien E Kapteijns, who is Somali culture researcher at Welesley College and the author of‘ "Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Turn of 1991” and Russian Somali linguist, Dr. G. Kapchits.

Guled Salah Bare, the Executive Director of SIDRA, expressed excitement at the book fair idea, which is largely funded by Puntland Government.

Popular Somali literary scholar Ahmed Farah Idaja spoke at the international book fair where he availed two books.

Somalia, once considered as nation of poets has recently begun to re-assume its identity, with similar fairs being staged in Mogadishu and Hargeisa.

The first Garowe International Book Fair, which has brought together publishing houses and distributors at home and in the diaspora, will end on July 31.