As part of "My Culture My Identity” event, the Ministry of Culture held a book fair for the publications of the General Book Authority and archived the event with a ceremony for awarding prizes. This event was held under the patronage of Dr. Lubana Mshaweh, Minister of Culture at Al-Assad National Library in Damascus on the 24th    of November.

The event was opened by Dr. Thaer Zain Al-Din,The  General Director of the Syrian Book Authority, with a speech about the event and its importance .The book fair included many rich and varied books on art, politics, economics and history.

At the end of the book fair, an award ceremony was held, and awards were given to the first three ranks as follows:

The Syrian General Book Commission announced two days ago, the results of its literary prizes for 2020, which include Omar Abu Risha Prize for poetry, Hanna Minh Prize for the novel, and Sami Al-Droubi Prize for translation, short story and painting Awards for children. All prizes were titled after legendary names that have formulated Syrian literature through their remarkable literary works that articulate Syrian cultural richness.  

The poet Ibrahim Mansour won the first place in the Omar Abu Risha prize for his poem Sarair al-Ashq (Innuendos of Admiration), while the second prize went to Firas Meithawi for his poem: The Damascene Hymn. Ghadeer Ismail won the third position for his poem "what wasn't recorded in the affiliation roster". While the award secretariat stressedr the importance of some unlucky poems that didn't got prizes like:  "Homeland Humming" by Ismail Rakab and "Khawla" by Sami Solomon and "Dance to the other side" by Majd Abraham.

As for Hanna Minh Prize for Novel, the first prize went to Rasheeq Suleiman for his novel "An Oleander Autumn", whereas the second place went to Gerges Hourani for his novel "Bastet". The third place was rewarded to Bouran Arbash for her novel: "Scrambled Love", whom Syriatimes will interview on the sidelines of the honoring ceremony to talk about her second novel; that will be held within the activities of (Days of the Ministry of Culture) at 12:00 pm next Tuesday in the Al-Assad National Library.

Secondhand book market underAl Ra'es  Bridge is still a destination for many writers, intellectuals, book lovers and university students; as it has formed a beautiful memory for everyone who passes by. It constitutes a strong relationship between book sellers and low income customers due to the used books cheap prices.

For more than twenty years, Uncle Abu Muayyad Mahmoud Hasan has worked in used book, selling in a street in Damascus, but now he works in the "sidewalk library" under theBridge, as his love and passion for reading, made him collect rare books to offer to his customers at moderate prices.It is worth noting that uncle Abu Muayyad owns books that are 100 years old.

About  used books clients, Uncle Abu Moayad said: "Most of them are university students, in addition to writers, intellectuals and those passing by. However, today's customers are very few due to the availability of electronic books and the changing reading tastes of people.

In his turn, Mr. Hassan Hab AL-Ruman  "Abu Osama", a bookseller, says: "I have been selling well-known books since fourth grade, for thirty years I have been placing my books on this sidewalk. I started with religious books, but due to the lack of demand for them, I began to present other books according to changing tastes, like books on human development, psychology and philosophy.

The Researcher Hussien Ragheb dealt  in his book  “ Terrorism is the Greatest  Crime of the Age”, which  comes in the form of  applied research,  with the structure of terrorism that is based on a culture in contrast to  human logic and  ethics ,  international laws and the rejection of the  others’ rights  in life.

The writer Ragheb believed in his book that terrorism has become the most dangerous issue threatening human existence, and it is the product of sick thinking,  vicious  beliefs and abnormal practices that arose in backward societies which  allow themselves to loot  peoples and deny their rights and existence.

The Directorate of Printing in the Syrian General Organization of Book since the beginning of the year to date has issued 138 books, out of the plan for the year 2020, which is limited to 220 books.

Despite the quarantine measures to confront the Corona pandemic and the effects of the terrorist war and the unfair siege on Syria, the Directorate of Printing has continued to publish books, magazines and periodicals dealing with various fields of creativity distinguished in quantity and quality.