English titles are in demand at the 17th International Book Fair in Erbil, which kicked off on Wednesday. https://www.rudaw.net/english/culture/10042025
“I mostly read books in English. Since childhood, I would watch English materials - YouTube, movies, and channels - and I would also mostly read English books because my curriculum is in English,” Malak Bilal, a student, told Rudaw at the fair on Friday.
Students Dler and Yousef Bayiz, who came from Duhok, also said they read English books, finding it easier to understand the English text in scientific books.
Bookstore owners say they have tried to make all the latest titles from the United States, the United Kingdom, and European countries available to readers.
“Because of the curriculum available in our country and the English-medium private schools, readers in the English language have increased. There are people who translate books from Kurdish, but it is not like the original book in English,” said Hussein Salim, the owner of Haval Bookstore in Erbil.
Of the 412 vendors at the fair, only five are specialized in English-language titles, but they are the most in-demand.
The fair, organized by the al-Mada Foundation for Media, Culture and Arts, runs for 11 days. Some 50 publishers from 22 countries are participating in the book fair, according to spokesperson Bewar Perasali.