10th Edition of Katara Festival for Arabic Novel Wraps Up

Doha: October 20 - The 10th edition of the Katara Festival for Arabic Novel 2024 was wrapped up Sunday after it was held from Oct. 13 to 20, 2024. The closing event honored publishing houses and participating entities in the second edition of the Katara International Book Fair, which accompanied the festival, as well as visual artists participating in the event of the person of the year which was the Moroccan writer Tahami Al Wazani. The Katara International Book Fair featured record turnout from innovators specialized in multiple art and intellectual areas, with many publishing houses at home and abroad and think tank institutions presenting thousands of titles of artworks, along with the participation of several Qatari nascent publishing houses which engaged for the first time in the fair activities. One of the most prominent Qatari houses that participated in the fair was Mutmim publishing house, which always seeks to nurture the cultural and art movement by showcasing diverse and outstanding content to be a platform for innovation and exploring talents, in pursuit of being a role model for people to be guided to the paths of knowledge. The Mutmim publishing house strives to be an adjunct value to the cultural movement in the State of Qatar in general and the publishing industry in particular within its unwavering efforts to achieve trailblazing in this field through publishing and distributing books and many genres in a wide diversity of cultural fields that concern individuals and educational institutions in Qatar and the Arab world. Participating in the festival was also the Hassan bin Mohammed Center for Historical Studies and showcased many of its scientific publications, particularly the complete issues of its magazine and publications from the project to translate the documents of the Bombay government. Speaking to Qatar News Agency , general supervisor of Hassan bin Mohammed Center Mohamed Hemam Fikri said among the publications presented by the center at the fair were Qatar and the Gulf states in Indian archive documents,' writings by Dr. Rushdi Rashid related to heritage, and the book Hajj from Qatar in ancient times. Additionally, there were writings by Sheikh Dr. Hassan bin Mohammed Al-Thani concerning the verification of books on the history of Qatar, along with other research publications from the center that focus on verifying and compiling sources on the history of Qatar and the Gulf states. Speaking to QNA, Director of the Turkish Cultural Center in Doha Prof. Dr. Ahmet Uysal, said the center participated in the book fair that accompanied the Katara festival by showcasing publications on teaching the Turkish language and others that introduce some symbols of Turkish culture. Auyisal added that through some translated books from Turkish to Arabic, the center aims, to be a bridge between Qatar and Turkiye in cultural exchange, as there is interest in the Turkish language in Qatar, which is matched by interest among Turks in the Arabic language. For her part, Founder and manager of Yildiz Publi shing (Turkiye) Maryam Al Sulaiti underscored that Yildiz has been committed to participating in book fairs in Qatar, highlighting that it has released 40 titles so far, noting its interest in publishing Qatari literary works. She outlined the diversity of the publications, which include novels, short stories, self-development books, and children's books, in addition to works being translated into Turkish. The closing day of the Katara Arab Novel Festival witnessed numerous events, including a session moderated by Mohammed Nasser Al Shahwani, who hosted the writer Hamdan Al Shamrani, director of Huroof publishing house in Kuwait. The session highlighted the journey of the publishing house, which began in 2017, and its constant presence at the Doha International Book Fair since its inception. Al Shamrani highlighted that the publishing house is not limited to publishing books alone, but rather it strives to forge communication between the writer and the reader, aiming to create an interactive reading community . The house expresses a sense of pride in presenting the works of Qatari writers, with the number of books published for Qatari authors reaching 16 titles. Al Shamrani emphasized the house's interest in the youth demographic and its efforts to provide diverse content that meets their interests, pointing out the efforts made by the house in the field of translation, as it translates many important literary works and distributes them in the region. Source: Qatar News Agency