Syrian Book Sales Suffer Badly in Recession

Poor Syrians! This news was quite the heart-stopper for me. The economic downfall has hit passionate readers in Syria in a big way according to the article below (please see link) published a week ago in Middle-East Online. Damascus which usually boasts brisk book sales at its fairs reported a disappointing downturn at their popular 24th annual book fair. The 20% discount on all books did not help. Young Syrians say they are strapped for cash and simply can't afford to buy their favourite titles. The Arab Cultural Publishing Centre says that its sales have plummeted from about 200 titles daily to a mere 40.

One aspiring Iraqi author, Fadhil Al-Rubaii, failed to sell even one copy of his new book called Imagined Palestine. He now regrets having the price tag labelled as 1,200 lira which he has learnt from hindsight, was clearly too high.

You may read more HERE.