Gaza book fair encourages youth to put down cellphone, pick up book
As social media and e-books increase in popularity, a group of young Palestinians organized a book fair in the Gaza Strip to promote paper books and encourage reading among youth.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A group of young Palestinians calling themselves “Athar” ("Impact") organized a book fair of secondhand books in the Gaza Strip under the same name on March 3. The fair was organized with the support from Cordoba restaurant and lasted a week.
The restaurant in Gaza City offers fast food meals and has a reading corner with novels and literary books for patrons.
The book fair featured novels, comic books, and books on politics, religion and historical sites in Palestine. One section was dedicated to a collection of book separators and bookmarks, and another to stone carvings and henna. Visitors could sit and read the books in a corner of the restaurant.
The book fair aimed at promoting Palestinian youth cultural initiatives, motivating young people to read and supporting an educated generation in light of the popularity of social networking sites. The book fair also sought to shed light on Palestinian authors such as Mahmoud Darwish and Muin Bseiso.
