Reading is the best remedy

Magrudy's has been around for more than 30 years. Notes chats with Isobel Abulhoul, managing director of the bookstore chain, about the store's efforts to improve literacy.

Have you planned activities for International Literacy Day?

Ramadan is not the easiest time to hold large-scale activities, but we'll be displaying books relevant to the day's aims throughout the week.

We'll be emphasising that reading can be every bit as fast-paced and gripping as cinema or video games, and infinitely more fulfilling.

What literacy activities have you held in previous years?

Our most popular events are creative writing classes. In the last year, we've had talks from prominent authors as part of the launch of next year's Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature, which we are co-organising.

We take part in World Book Day each March, giving free books to children and we will be launching story-telling sessions in our shops. We also hold a monthly book club.

What age group do the majority of your readers fit into?

Our customers are of all ages and backgrounds, but the biggest group of customers is mothers of young or teenaged children. Younger businesspeople and students trying to improve their English and business skills also visit.

Is reading for pleasure is declining among young adults?

There are many alternative pleasures for young people: television, the internet and video games compete for children's leisure time. But this isn't cause for pessimism: when I'm in our shops I see many intelligent, articulate young readers from various backgrounds.

What reading materials do your readers most prefer?

Teen fiction is a hit with teenagers and adults, and thrillers and popular literary fiction do well. Boom-town Dubai has an insatiable appetite for business books and biographies of entrepreneurs, while parenting and mind, body and spirit books are popular.

What about audio books and e-books?

Audio book sales have gone way up during the last year, and this is driven by non-fiction, self-improvement books: business, languages, self-help and the like.

Fiction has had a smaller boost. People spend a lot of time in traffic; books are an alternative to music or radio.

E-books haven't made much of an impact here yet: there's no real demand.

Do you stock many Arabic books?

We sell the same range of categories in Arabic as we do in English, availability permitting. Interest in Arabic books is growing rapidly, driven by a demand for translations of international fiction and the output from countries such as Egypt and Lebanon. Islamic mind, body and spirit books, history and politics books also do well.