Egypt’s Minister of Culture Inas Abdel-Dayem announced on Tuesday that the 53rd edition of the Cairo International Book Fair will run for 13 days instead of the usual 12.

The fair will be running from 26 January until 7 February at Egypt Centre for International Exhibitions and Conferences in New Cairo. 

Abdel-Dayem said that the 53rd edition of the fair is returning to its original date, which is the end of January of each year, after the last session was exceptionally held during the month of June 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic 

Last year’s fair also ran longer than usual, lasting for 15 days from 30 June to 15 July. 

The minister confirmed that the extension was set in place to provide the public ample opportunity to visit the exhibition and to support the book and publishing industry.

It is noteworthy that the fair will witness the participation of about 250 Arab and foreign publishers, with Greece being named this edition’s guest of honour. 

The theme of the 53rd edition of the fair will be ‘Egypt’s Identity’ and will pay homage to late writers Yehia Haqqi and Abdel-Tawab Youssef.