JEDDAH — Despite the high turnout at the Jeddah International Book Fair, many in the cultural scene still view the readership in the Arab world to be slim. "In the Arab world, we ask people whether they read or not when the real question should be, what do you read? Each individual should have at least a favorite genre," says Kuwaiti novelist Omar Faisal Al-Omar, who describes himself as an avid reader since childhood and writes thrillers inspired by true events. More than 1.5 million books from 450 publishing houses around the Arab World have been exhibited at the daily fair that was visited by over 188,000 visitors in just its first week. "Novels are limited to social, romantic, or drama stories. There is also a focus on poetry and reflections," says Al-Omar who participated at the international book fair for the second year in a row. "However, in the GCC, there are not many quality thriller and science fiction novels." "A thriller novel is not merely for the fear factor, it has many other literary elements to be incorporated. Embracing one's imagination leads to refinement and opens doors of innovation that were not though possible," he added. The book fair has a higher turnout in Riyadh than in Jeddah, he adds. "While some are viditing for their passion for reading, many are coming for entertainment or treating it as an outing," says Saudi columnist Bassam Al-Feteiny, who regularly visits the international book fair in the Kingdom. Despite the high turnout year on year in Jeddah, he agrees, the book fair in Riyadh is better organized. "I hope to see a permanent venue for the book fair in Jeddah in the future," he says. The contemporary books in bookshelves around the Arab World are not as exceptional as they used to be in the past, he says. "From what I've seen, there is a big difference between the published work in the past and today's books. The current literature doesn't present something new. We didn't see a new field or genre prevailing in the cultural scene this year." There's not enough originality in the literary scene in the Arab world, he adds. "A lot of authors today write books for the sake of having a published work in their name. As a result, they're not necessarily ready and don't have something new to present to the reader. Even those who write about a certain discipline are merely translating the same knowledge without adding to the subject." Readership is decreasing year on year, according to Mohammed Ameen, sales manager at Emirati-based Arab Scientific Publishers. "The Internet and social media play a big role in this," he says. "We're tackling this problem by trying to lower prices of books so we can encourage reading." Nonetheless the number of authors is growing and delivering work in various genres, he further says. "We do our best to facilitate writers to publish their work and work on other initiatives such as participate in international book fairs and promote book awards," he adds. The Jeddah International Book Fair runs until Sunday. Its committee, however, asked residents to vote for a possible extension. Some 73% of Twitter users agreed that 10 days were not enough.
