Mafrosh Book Fair: A new chapter in Khartoum’s literary history
Forty years ago intellectuals frequented a coffee shop on Eteni Square in downtown Khartoum. A year ago this month, banter about books returned to the site with the arrival of Mafrosh, a second-hand book fair and exchange market.
On May 7, the Mafrosh book event clocked up its first year anniversary. Over that timespan it has attracted between 20 and 50 booksellers, spanning intellectuals, owners of modest bookshops or young individuals who sell books to escape unemployment widely spread in Khartoum as a result of deteriorating economic conditions.
Mafrosh book fair banner, May 7.
Mafrosh’s concept is simple: To exchange second-hand books. It has attracted many booksellers in Khartoum to gather in Eteni Square,” said Osama Abbas, a member of the Work Cultural Group, the group of intellectuals who organise the event.
In the Sudanese dialect, Mafrosh” means goods displayed on roads. Usually lightweight items like shoes, haberdashery, vegetables, fruits and clothes are sold but books are also on sale near universities and higher education institutes.
Readers can buy or exchange books at the event, which aims to sell cheaper books, thus making reading more accessible.
In the 1980s, Khartoum was one of the most well-read Arab capitals. In the words of an old local saying: Books are written in Cairo, printed in Beirut and read in Khartoum.” These days, however, with only four or five public libraries in the two-million strong population of Khartoum, are over.
The key factor behind the city’s declining readership is rising book prices, which now cost between 10 to 70 Sudanese pounds (1.5 to 10 US$). Higher prices are generally blamed on custom duties on imported books.
Books are written in Cairo, printed in Beirut and read in Khartoum.” Mafrosh is to be held on the first Tuesday of every month at the same place. Whether the books are unused or second-hand, the underlying concept is to exchange books free of charge or with a nominal price difference, according to the type of book.
Journalist Abdurrahim Hijazi -- a Mafrosh seller -- said he participates in Mafrosh every month. He described it as more than a place for merely exchanging books. It is rather an extension of the original Sudanese culture and a chance for meeting friends and fellows to discuss cultural issues in Sudan. It also provides a significant opportunity for cross-cultural and social communication among the different generations through circulating books that provide the coming generations with constructive education.”
Journalist Nosa Saed Ahmad with Ahmad Al-Sadeg, May 7.
Ahmad Al-Sadeg, who attended Mafrosh, said he was keen to find affordable reading material. Speaking about its organisers WCG, Al-Sadeg said they are an educational organisation that have launched a historic initiative in response to the high increase in book prices globally”.
More support would return Khartoum’s once buzzing literary scene to life,” he said.
Mafrosh organisers are keen to restore the old adage about Khartoum readers, some forty years after intellectuals last congregated on the downtown square.
