Egypt is the guest country for the Hargeysa International Book Fair 2019 to be held in Hargeysa, Somaliland from July 20 – 25, 2019.
The Hargeysa International Book Fair, founded by Jama Musse Jama, is an annual cultural event in the Somaliland city of Hargeysa. The fair, which first ran in 2008, is now arguably the biggest literary festival in the horn of Africa with thousands attending.
The team organising the festival, now in its 12th year, have made several announcements about the current iteration of the shindig. For one, the dates for the fair are July 20 – 25 and the festival theme is “coexistence.”
One of the unique features of the festival is the “guest country” where more writers, poets and other artists from that country making an appearance. The festival has in the last decade featured partner countries from Djibouti (2012), the United Kingdom (2013), Malawi (2014), Nigeria (2015), Ghana (2016), South Africa (2017), and Rwanda (2018).
This year the festival partner country is Egypt which has a special place in the minds and living memory of the people of Somaliland. The future prospects of both countries also seem to be equally entangled.
We shall keep you posted as and when the confirmed guests are announced. You can follow the team running the festival online on their official festival handle on Twitter.
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