Cairo – Also this year the International Book Fair hosted in Cairo, now in its 53rd edition in 2022, has registered a substantial number of publishing houses linked to Churches and ecclesial institutions among the many exhibitors present at the book fair present in Egypt.

The fair, inaugurated on Thursday, January 27, continues until next February 6, and aims to represent a signal of recovery for the entire Egyptian publishing sector, heavily penalized by the pandemic crisis.
Among the important works present this year in the stands of Christian exhibitors, there are those edited by the Theological Seminary of the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, which published, among other things, a precious version of the first Christian monastic rules that appeared in Egypt already in the Roman period.

The Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center brought to the fair several unpublished volumes dedicated to the life and theological and pastoral work of Pope Shenuda III (1923-2012), a central figure in the recent history of Coptic Christianity, who on the occasion of the upcoming tenth anniversary of his death will be the focus of intense commemorative moments.
This year also the House of Culture, linked to the Evangelical Coptic community, takes part in the publishing fair with a series of unpublished high-level publications, also dedicated to contemporary social issues and topical issues related to psychology and sociology studies, together with Arabic editions of works by Martin Luther King, by the British writer CS Lewis and the Anglican theologian John Stott.
Among the local Catholic publishers, the “Logos” publishing house also exhibits all its recent publications at the Cairo International Fair.

The liveliness of the Churches and ecclesial communities present in Egypt has been expressed for some time in the quality and quantity of initiatives promoted by various ecclesial realities in the publishing and media fields. The presence of a substantial number of Christian publishers at the International Book Fair hosted in Egypt eloquently confirms the willingness of operators in the sector to react and not succumb to the crisis in the publishing sector, aggravated in recent years by the pandemic. In the past, the exhibition spaces of the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo hosted the “Coptic Book Fair” several times, a cultural event which on some occasions saw the participation of about forty publishing houses linked to indigenous ecclesial communities.

The one hosted in Cairo represents the largest and oldest international book fair organized in the Arab world. The Fair is usually held during the month of January. In 2021, due to the pandemic, the inauguration of the event had been postponed to the end of June.

Source: Agenzia Fides