Embassies of the US, France and South Korea are promoting their countries culture and reading habits among many other topics of interest through their dedicated pavilions at the Doha International Book Fair.
Ambassadors Dana Shell Smith (US), Eric Chevalier (France) and Heung Kyeong Park (South Korea) were present at their respective stalls yesterday during the opening of the 11-day event.
South Korean embassy’s counsellor Who-Won Kang said their pavilion reflected their commitment to the Qatar government and a large number of the country’s residents who have shown good interest in knowing about South Korea and its people.
“More than 1,000 Qataris visited South Korean cities such as Busan, Seoul and Incheon last year, for medical treatment, investment purposes and also to see the sport venues the country has built in the last 30 years,” said Kang.
The French embassy is running a large pavilion in tandem with a local book distributor’s house. The French pavilion has French translation works of a number of English and American authors.
An embassy official said the French language has a large following in Qatar and is widely spoken by people of many Northern African Arab countries. “This has brought a number of Arabic-French translation works to the fair,” he said.
The US pavilion has showcased several informative books, including those detailing the US economic growth and many other areas of interest such as study of English.


Qatar Museums launches innovative publications
Qatar Museums (QM), under the guidance of chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, has launched a collection of innovative publications at the 27th Doha International Book Fair.
QM has launched 10 new publications that will be showcased alongside 100 QM publications in total, ranging from comic book-style illustrations, to books showcasing works by acclaimed local, regional and international artists that have exhibited in Qatar in the past.
The list of new books at Qatar Museums’ booth includes The Qatari Kitchen’ written by cooking and etiquette expert Aisha Mohamed al-Tamimi. The Adventures of Faisal Books by Fatima Hassan al-Sulaiti, (two versions), Spring Prince, by the acclaimed Turkish author Melike Gunyuz, and Shamma al-Kuwari’s The Eye Loves What It Sees are some of the other major collections.
Ismail Azzam, a book put together by Bahaa Abudaya, Ala Bashir, Faraj Daham and Hadi Yasem is another collection available at the booth.
QM’s director of publications Noof Ibrahim al-Abdulla said the organisations has brought its largest selection of publications. QM also houses an incredible collection of books all year round at the Museum of Islamic Art and Mathaf libraries.
Located in the education wing of the MIA, the library includes specialist books and monographs on Islamic art, art reference books, museum collection and exhibition catalogues and scholarly periodicals on art, including auction catalogues. With more than 15,000 books available, MIA’s library is one of the largest of its kind in the region.


Award winning books from Katara on display

As a platinum sponsor of the 27th edition of Doha International Book Fair, Katara - the Cultural Village has showcased 28 publications issued by Katara Prize for the Arabic Novel.
Copies of the winning novels, including English and French translations and publications of Qatari novelists Shama al-Kuwari and Ahmad AbdulMalek will be given away to visitors.
A creative writing workshop is to be held at Katara’s pavilion today from 5pm to 6.30pm. The book fair will witness the presence of five winning writers from the first edition of Katara Prize for Arabic Novel from the non-published novels category.
The event has been launched under the slogan “Read”.
Related Story