The Mogadishu Book Fair 2019 has revealed the theme and some of the guests who will take part this year from August 21-23.
The Mogadishu Book Fair was set up in 2015 to promote books, reading, literature, and culture while bringing together authors, scholars, poets, booksellers, publishers, and the Mogadishu and Somali public. In the four years it has been running, the fair has brought guests in their dozens to the capital of the East African nation that is slowly rebuilding after many years of conflict.
The team running the fair this year, the fifth edition, have shared some of the guests who will be featured when it happens next month. Locals can expect to engage with Somali-Canadian novelist Fartumo Kusow, Somali-Finish author Nimco Noor, Somali-Italian Somali linguist Prof Abdalla Mansur, Somali-Canadian novelist Hassan G Santur, vocalist Abdikarim Qaareey (Jiir), Somali-Swedish author Hussein Abdulle, and Mogadishu University researcher Mustfafa Fayrus. Also featuring over the three-day affair will be Somali-American writer and motivational influencer Mubarak Hadi, researcher Guled Salah, Urban Planning guru Rashid Ali, author Mohamed A. Stanza as well as cultural specialist and Somali Heritage Week Nairobi founder Fardawsa Jama.
Some of the international guests expected are South Africa/Zimbabwe’s Panashe Chigumadzi, South African Mzilikazi wa Afrika, British author and BBC reporter Mary Harper, Kenya’s Nanjala Nyabola, and Kenyan storyteller John Namai.
The festival theme this year will be ‘Access to Learning.’
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