Mas Al-Qaisi
Photography by Mahmoud Raouf
Thought is the mirror of peoples and the pen is the tool that is used to deliver it, while the book is a bridge to cross civilizations geographically and temporally, and for this reason cultural festivals and exhibitions are held in order to build bridges of knowledge communication to exchange human experiences through the ages and make homelands a foothold for the convergence of different cultures.
In the Iraq International Book Fair, which is held by Al-Mada Foundation for the second time in Baghdad and on the ground of its international exhibition, many sober Arab publishing houses participate that Al-Mada was keen to make their participation continuous to extend literary production to the Iraqi reader constantly, including Dar Kanaan Syria, whose publications are a rich and indispensable material, and in this regard, Saeed Barghouti, Director of Dar Kanaan for Publishing and Distribution, said: «Dar Canaan has a continuous participation in various exhibitions from small to large because it is interested in writers and readers alike, and the exhibition is the best place, it is the basis that achieves and secures this direct communication between the publisher, visitor and reader, in order for readers to know their interests, problems and concerns through exhibitions that respond to their aspirations as well as pave the way to know subsequent versions», as «the benefit of holding an exhibition in general, is a great benefit morally even if it does not yield a harvest Profits, especially in being a forum that brings publishers, translators and authors together with each other,” noting the need to provide opportunities and occasions to bring together literary makers from authors, translators and publishers with readers.
With regard to the organization of the Iraq International Book Fair, Barghouti says: «The reality is who speaks, not me, and it is important here to refer to how beautiful organization, and I have previously mentioned this with other media about this beautiful innovation in the classification divided by countries, the Syrian, Egyptian, Lebanese and Iraqi house, this distribution is not only formal but also functional, as it makes it easier for the visitor to reach his goal without dispersion between the corridors of the halls», moreover «moving from outside the halls to Inside it, we find wide corridors that allow visitors to roam easily and easily between the sections of publishing houses,” he said, stressing that participation in book fairs is “a requirement and a benefit at the same time.”
Dar Kanaan has a special identity through the content it provides, and in this regard, Barghouti says, “Our library contains what responds to the concerns of the house and the main concern since its inception in 1989, is the need and urgent will to have its own identity, many friends encourage me to diversify the publications of Dar Canaan, but I refuse because this loses its identity and its goal, which lies in providing what respects the mind of the reader, and helps him to ask his questions regarding his economic, social and political affairs, and all issues of his life. At Dar Kanaan, we are keen to establish a strong relationship between the publisher and the reader in the form of dialogue, which is not necessarily embodied in the form of a question and answer, but may achieve results implicitly through reading.”
On keeping pace with modernity and meeting the new requirements through the publications offered by Dar Kanaan, Barghouti commented by saying: «It is natural but necessary to present what is new in the house, as the house that does not renew its publications is seeking its demise practically, with the importance of making this new identified with the old content», pointing out that modern versions are also divided between several classifications by saying: «The decision on what the house issues also depends on authorship and translation that achieves cultural communication between us and the other by learning about his culture and thinking, and this is actually what Dar Canaan has achieved through translation from German, French and Spanish culture, noting that of course we do not monopolize any intellectual product», and goes on to say about the importance of translation in the transfer of human experiences across continents, he resumes: “Translation itself has its pioneers, as we target senior translators who convey the text as if it had not translated anything,” but rather convey the cultural experience to the other in its entirety.
In describing the measure of the quality of the book from Barghouti’s point of view, he says: “A good book is what achieves pleasure and benefit at the same time, in addition to the knowledge the reader acquires, you also need to employ a realistic in social, political and structural life, otherwise if these benefits are not achieved through the book, it is a failure.” He concluded his speech by highlighting the importance of technology and the facilities it achieves in the dissemination of information, text messages and others after “the development of ways of life in nearly five decades is hundreds of times equivalent to before when we used to correspond by mail and wait a long time to receive the message” while today knowledge is within reach and we just have to know how to benefit from it.