Doha International Book Fair sees high demand for novels and Islamic books

The Doha International Book Fair is on full swing since it opened doors to public, last week.

The fair that will go on until the 12th of December, is seeing a huge demand for novels and Islamic and children’s books.

Fadi, one of the exhibitors, said in The Peninsula, many people who visit his stall look for children’s books in addition to Islamic and history books.

Hassan from Al Amal House, expressed similar views and said Islamic and children’s books are in high demand.
“We are expecting more visitors, especially in the mornings. I see more and more families come to buy more books and this is a good thing,” he said.

Many exhibitors are Arabic publishers although there are many selling foreign titles. In fact, of the 427 entities, 393 are Arabic and 34 foreign publishing houses.

The stall of the American embassy is one of the few selling English books. Praveen Menon, Director, Information Resource Centre at the embassy, said several types of test preparation books and novels by American authors are among the books available in the stall.

He said the most expensive books they sell are priced up to QR100 “but we also give some free books to children for reading.

“The weekend has witnessed a rush of visitors, and school teams come in the mornings and other visitors in the evenings,” said Menon.

Shampjid from India said last year was better because not many customers come this year as car parking is far away and visitors have to walk the long distance to reach the exhibition area.

“We sell only English books and fast-selling books are novels and books for teenagers,” he said, adding books are sold at affordable prices “but people also ask for discount so we give 10 to 15 percent discount”, he added.

Along with books, some other items too are being sold at the fair. For instance, an exhibitor at Atlas Al Sharq which specializes in electronics items, said watches that give prayer timings are in high demand, in addition to dictionaries.