Used books festival a major attraction in Sharjah

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

A large number of knowledge seekers with the love of words have attended the first festival of used books held at the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services (SCHS) and found a wide range of books at unbelievably low prices.

The Souq Al-Warraqeen, used books festival, will be a regular feature for book lovers as the SCHS plans to organise this day-long event every Saturday every month in its vicinity in Sharjah.

Visitors praised the idea of the “book package”, which allows the acquisition of (twenty) valuable books for only Dhs100. They also praised the idea of (the form) that the visitor would fill out and through which he explains the topics of the books that interest him. Through an annual subscription, SCHS periodically delivers the (book package) to the place of buyer’s choice.

Many books in English are available to everyone.

Sheikha Jameela Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, Director General of SCHS, has confirmed that the (institutionalisation) of the Used Book Festival that the city has been organising periodically since 2006 is a fruitful result of SCHS’ great efforts. The festival has become a permanent exhibition for used books. It receives visitors on the first Saturday of each month, and is called ‘Souq Al-Warraqeen’.

She said, “The exhibition represents a response to the many requests received from the community following the great success of the Used Books Festival since its early days until the seventh edition (Get a book. enlighten a path), which witnessed the display of one million books and was among the activities of Sharjah, the World Book Capital.”

“Although the city is an institution specialising in working with persons with disabilities, it is keen to organise many events directed to all members of society, believing in the integration of efforts and its role in awareness-raising by strengthening cooperation ties with local, Arab and international institutions to achieve the best results”, added Sheikha Jameela.

An opportunity to employ people with disabilities: She explained that the Souq Al-Warraqeen will constitute an additional financial resource to support the programmes offered by the city to people with disabilities, and at the same time, provide job opportunities for persons with disabilities that contribute to their economic empowerment, while continuing to receive donations of used books.

The naming of the exhibition “Souq Al-Warraqeen” came to revive a heritage that dates back to the Abbasid era, as the Warraq’s task was to copy books, correct them, and publish them among people. Al- Warraq is the person who performs that task. He may be the copyist, or may be someone else, and he has someone to copy for him in addition to what entails the copying process, including covering and gilding, and the sale of paper, pens and inkwells. This means that Al-Warraqeen do what libraries and publishing and distributing houses do nowadays, from printing, distributing and selling paper and necessary writing tools.

The Director General referred to the environmental role of the SCHS through (Souq Al-Warraqeen) and its contribution to the process of recycling damaged books and making use of them in useful industries.

After taking all safety and security measures, SCHS has organised the experimental opening of Used Book Fair on Saturday, September 5, 2020, afternoon. The Used Book Fair, scheduled on the first Saturday of every month, is hosted at SCHS’s headquarters in Yarmouk area (Sharjah). Amid an organised mass turnout, which (the market) witnessed for the acquisition of valuable books at very reasonable prices (from two dirhams to Dhs20 only) while taking into account the capacity of the place.

Many of the (Souq al-Warraqeen) visitors have confirmed that SCHS contributes through this event to spreading culture and knowledge and introducing people to the services SCHS provides to its students of all disabilities. In addition to providing job opportunities for persons with disabilities and contributing to their economic empowerment, while allocating the proceeds of the exhibition for the benefit of educating and training persons with disabilities in accordance with international best practices.