OMAN: Muscat International Book Fair opens 25th, February 2015 MUSCAT: The 20th Muscat International Book Fair was inaugurated yesterday under the auspices of His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture, amid huge anticipation from thousands of citizens and residents. Around 180,000 books from 24 countries are displayed this year for readers and 44 official institutions from the Sultanate are involved, divided into 872 pavilions. A special corner is allocated for Nizwa, the Arab Cultural Capital, which includes books related to the civilisation of Nizwa and its rich history. Web search engine allows facilitating the search for books in addition to a team of youth working at the exhibition booths to facilitate search process for visitors. On the sidelines of the exhibition, a number of cultural activities are organised by the exhibition committee, highlighting some of the cultural institutions like the United Nations, the Cultural Club, the Society of Writers and Authors, Omani Association for Theatre, Omani Association for Libraries and Information, Ministry of Education, Omani Society for Fine Arts, Committee of Nizwa: The Capital of Culture, Law and Life project, Scientific College of Design, National Commission for Family Affairs, literary evenings salon, and Fatima Al Alayan Literary Salon. These activities will continue until the end of the exhibition and will host a number of authors, writers, poets and intellectuals from in and outside the country. A number of workshops and lectures will be held at music, theatre, design and fine arts in addition to some activities at philosophy, art, history, law, science and family affairs. A media team follows up the activities of the exhibition and publishes a daily brochure covering all the events and the last updates. |