Intellectual books make comeback in Bahrain book fair

Manama: Intellectual books have recovered some of their significance among readers after years of dominance by religious publications, a publisher has said.

"We have noted that following the uprisings in some Arab countries, people are going back to political and intellectual books," Housam, a Lebanese national who works with Al Saqi Publishing, said at the biennial Bahrain International Book Fair.

"It seems there is a wish to better understand what happened in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. People seek realistic answers and expect to find them in these books," he said. Other publishers reported a similar tendency among readers.

Few non-religious books were able to challenge the predominance of religious publications in recent exhibitions.

More than 300 Arab and foreign publishing houses are exhibiting their latest publications at the 10-day fair where Tunisia is the guest of honour.

The North African country where a one-month uprising in mid-December 2010 ousted the regime of Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali on January 14 staged a mini-concert, a poetry evening and lively debates on whether the so-called Arab Spring would result in Arab democracies or in a repeat of failures to introduce deep political changes.