UAE | Heritage and Culture
Used Book Festival visitors snap up more than 70,000 volumes
More than 70,000 books were sold during the week-long Used Book Festival, held under the patronage of Shaikh Mayed Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
- More than 6,000 visitors made use of the week-long Used Book Festival with more than 70,000 books being sold. Organisers managed to collect more than 110,000 books prior to the exhibition.
- Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News
Dubai: More than 70,000 books were sold during the week-long Used Book Festival, held under the patronage of Shaikh Mayed Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The event ended on Saturday with more than 6,000 visitors, including students from more than 50 schools and academic institutions, participating in the festival. In fact, more than 15,000 books were sold in just the first day.
The festival was conducted by the Science and Culture Forum, which was organised by the Ministry of Education, Juma Al Majid Heritage and Culture Centre and the Dubai Land and Properties Department.
Throughout the festival the large tent was packed with visitors buying books as well as donating used volumes. The total reached about 110,000 books by the time the festival ended.
In just a month they were able to collect more than half the figure, around 80,000 books. By then they were engaging the entire community in reviving the culture of circulating used books.
"Around 350 private and public schools across the UAE donated to this festival. We even dedicated sections solely for schools donating more than 1,000 books. This activity brought a lot of awareness to the schoolchildren and involved them in an activity for the betterment of the society as well as to encourage them to read more," said Dr Mohammad Yasir Amro, Director-General of the Juma Al Majid Heritage and Culture Centre and head of the organising committee.
Suggestions
The organising committee has yet to decide on what to do with the remaining books, most of which are on academic and scientific subjects.
Gulf News learnt that the books may be given to public schools in rural areas a or they may be kept for next year's festival.
According to Dr Amro, the committee is considering conducting the event annually. The committee received several suggestions from visitors.
Among the requests received by the organising committee was a system to help visitors find specific books and their locations based on the author or subject.
The tent was merely composed of 33 sections with books organised according to subject such as history and geography, Islamic sciences, technology and pure sciences, school books, children's books, social sciences and humanities as well as medical and linguistic books in both Arabic and English. Revenues went entirely to the Beit Al Khair Society.
Many of the academic and scientific books had a price when new of more than Dh100, but were sold for not more than Dh10, which was a strong incentive for visitors to collect a wide array of beneficial books, said an organiser.
The organising committee will award individuals, schools, institutions and organisations who supported the festival through their donations at an event which will be announced soon.
Contact: Donate books
Anyone who wants to donate used books can contact Juma Al Majid Heritage and Culture Centre at 04-2665210.
Share this article
Related Articles
More from UAE Heritage & Culture
More from UAE
Popular in UAE

-
Your pictures
Readers' pictures
A Selection of the best Gulf News reader pictures this week
Latest news
- Favourable weather for Eid weekend
- Teacher jailed for indecent behaviour
- Forum seeks more reforms to human trafficking law
- Crackdown urged on drink driving
- Disability is no handicap for this Emirati
- Shaikh Khalifa revamps security council
- Exhibition to showcase UAE art in New York
- Police officer injured during raid on brothels
- Waiters tamper with orders, cheat customers
- Queen praises UAE's role
- Noise pollution must be regulated
- Don't slaughter at home — municipality
- Sharjah intensifies food inspections for Eid
- UAE maintains economic status on global stage
- Gulf News wins international design awards
Community Reports
-
Noise pollution must be regulated
Residents are finding it difficult to sleep well at night owing to ongoing construction work
-
Protect our children's health
Dust and dirt from a nearby road are causing problems to those frequenting Al Nasseriya park, Sharjah.
-
Keeping out curious cats in Abu Dhabi
Felines trapped in electrical substations create a nuisance
-
Construction site turned into dump
Sharjah residents using abandoned spot to dispose of waste


