Children's books have witnessed more demand from visitors at the ongoing Doha International Book Fair, with 90 publishing houses specialising on children’s books taking part. “More people are asking for children's books and toys, in addition to novels and Islamic books, whose prices are affordable, so visitors took advantage to buy them ,” said an exhibitor. “More women are looking for novels while there are some who ask for books on humanities,” he added.
Some families came to the fair with their children saying that they wanted to buy many books but their priority were books for their children. “We came to the exhibition with our children, and such exhibition is a rare chance for us to buy some good books not available in the market and even if they are available, they are more expensive than those at the fair. We want to buy books for our children than us,” said a parent. Exhibitors said they were expecting increase in sales and they were satisfied with the previous day because the exhibition coincides with the end of the month when people have already received their salaries.
There are also some visitors who wait for the last days of the exhibition to buy the books they want, because they think that the books will become cheaper.
Ibraheem, a visitor, said that he came to buy some books but the prices were high and there was no price list. “I bought a book for QR70 while my friend bought the same book for QR50. The prices must be unified. If you are not an experienced buyer, you will be cheated," he said.
Spread on a 23,500sqm space, the fair has 895 stands with the participation of 490 publishing houses from 33 countries, 90 of which specialise in children’s books.
The 27th edition of Doha International Book Fair opened three days ago at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) and will continue until December 10.
