Khartoum – The International Khartoum Books Exhibition concluded the activities of its 12th session at the fair ground at Burri suburb

. Some 350 national and international publishing houses participated in the fair, which was held during the period October 17-29.
The books exhibition was inaugurated by First Lt. General First Vice-President Bakri Hassan Saleh in the presence of ministers, ambassadors accredited to Khartoum, chairman of the Egyptian publishers union, deputy chairman of the Arab publishers union and a big gathering of the citizens. Also present were representatives of publishing houses from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Kuwait and other countries besides a number of the people of culture and arts.
The Sudanese Minister of Culture, Al-Tayeb Hassan Badawi, addressing the inauguration of the exhibition, has said the Sudan is witnessing a cultural development that is to form a foundation for strong nation, reviewing the cultural projects being implemented including the cultural dialogue, Kadugli: the Capital of Sudanese Heritage, Gineina: Capital of the Sudanese Culture and Sennar: Capital of the Islamic Culture 2017.
The minister has noted that the books exhibition is considered as one of the biggest cultural and intellectual projects in the country.
The exhibition focused this year on the latest titles of the publishing firms besides giving concern to the scientific and university books, and children library. The session was accompanied by a number of activities, including symposia and lectures, and a number of cultural and intellectual activities.
Novelist Ambassador Jamal Mohamed Ahmed was selected as the writer of the year for this session for incarnating the African dimension in a number of his novels.