On October 2, the opening ceremony of the 10th Baku International Book Fair organized by the Ministry of Culture was held at the Baku Expo Center. The 10th Book Fair honors the 530th anniversary of the birth of the great Azerbaijani poet and thinker Muhammad Fuzuli (1494-1556). The opening ceremony was attended by Minister of Culture Adil Karimli, Vice-speaker of Milli Majlis Academician Rafael Huseynov, President of ANAS Academician Isa Habibbayli, Chairman of the Union of Azerbaijani Writers, People's Writer Anar, deputies, well-known cultural, scientific, literary figures, and other guests. The event began with the presentation of the artistic part.
A ghazal by Mohammad Fuzuli was accompanied by mugham music, and compositions by the talented Uzeyir Hajibeyli were also played. People's writer Anar, who gave the opening speech, emphasized the importance of the exhibition and said that this traditional project is a great celebration for book lovers. The writer stressed the importance of book culture for all countries and communities and invited everyone to benefit from the exhibition. He ended his speech by saying, "May the book live forever and give us life! Afterwards, the guests proceeded to viewing the fair.
The fair will be attended by participants from 56 institutions from 18 countries and four continents, as well as 110 local publishing houses and book art enterprises. The world-famous Irish author John Boyne, the well-known German writer Wulf Dorn, and the native of Azerbaijan Fariba Vafi are the "honorary guests" of the exhibition. The poet Salam Sarvan and the prose writer Rovshan Abdullaoghlu represent our country as "honorary authors." In addition to Azerbaijan, famous writers, poets, scientists, and young writers from Turkiye, Italy, China, Russia, South Korea, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Oman, Argentina, Morocco, Venezuela, Georgia, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Mongolia will participate in the exhibition. For the first time in the history of the fair, 327 activities will be organized, including master classes for children and adults, book presentations, book signings, conferences, symposiums, competitions, reading, and music sessions.
Until October 8, the exhibition will provide special buses for visitors from the "Academy of Sciences," "28 May," and "Koroghlu" metro stations to the Baku Expo Center. The exhibition is open to the public every day from 10:00 in the morning till 20:00 in the evening. Entry is free of charge.
