Those bookshops open a new chapter for intercultural dialogue
Yesterday, the Abbasid dynasty mobilized books from all over the world to found an encyclopedic library. In the House of Wisdom — “Bayt al-Hikma”, scholars from East and West united their efforts to make knowledge universal. Today, a new chapter is opening for the House of Wisdom and for dialogue between peoples. At a time when the book market is posting an 18% annual increase in sales and the booktok trend is attracting more and more tiktokers, intercultural bookshops and libraries are reinventing themselves and taking over as spaces for exchange and learning. Here are three that are well worth a visit.
Al Saqi : a chapter ends, but the story is not over for the Middle East bookshop
Al Saqi Books is the story of three friends, Mai Ghoussoub, André and Salwa Gaspard, who leave their burning Lebanon to start again on the other side of the Mediterranean. They took their knowledge with them, setting up a bookshop in central London to pass it on. Overflowing with essays and novels on the Arab world, the Middle East specialist quickly established itself in Europe as the largest of its kind.
Yet, the iconic London bookshop is preparing to close its doors in the face of the dual impact of the crisis in Lebanon, where the printing house is located, and Brexit, which is imposing new customs barriers.
A chapter is closing for Al Saqi, but the adventure is far from being over ! Its publishing arms, Al Saqi Books and Dar al Saqi, remain accessible online, while new premises are under construction in the west of the capital.
Readers will soon be able to find sociological essays by Samir and Roseanne Khalaf, such as Arab Youth — social mobilization, or The Meaning of Mecca by M.E McMillan and many other works…
More than a store, the bookshop as a refuge : Pages in Istanbul
Like the founders of Al Saqi, Syrian Samer Al-Kadri is opening his bookshop on the roads of exile. Having arrived in Turkey in 2012, the founder of Pages wanted to create a special place for the city's inhabitants, as well as for the Syrian refugees who find their way here.
The shelves are filled with books by famous Syrian authors and Arab poets, almost impossible to find in Istanbul.
Space is also provided for Syrian writers, artists and musicians to hone their craft and better integrate into society. “Members of the Syrian community needed a place to remind them of home, while the Turkish community needed to get to know us better”, stresses the project's co-creator, Gulnar Hajou. Synonymous with sharing, the Pages project has created a meeting point between the two populations.
No more "language barrier" for the organization "LivreEnsemble"
What if we made literature a universal language ?
This is the challenge taken up by the LivreEnsemble association, whose premises will open soon in Paris Centre.
This multilingual library aims to promote cultural diversity by offering a wide range of works in several hundred languages. LivreEnsemble will also be holding workshops to help people discover the specificity of each idiom.
For the time being, its virtual library already provides access to a wide range of content, thanks to videos of readers presenting their favorite books in their own language.
Nadia Déhan Rotschild delivers this hilarious excerpt from Sholem Aleichem's A Thousand and One Nights Of Krushnik in her native Yiddish :
"On the front line, the soldier Yiekhiel starts shooting in the air. ‘Over there, you have to shoot over there, like the others !’ But Yehiel doesn't get alarmed either, and says to him calmly ‘But there are men over there!’”
What future for libraries ?
asked Umberto Eco in his lecture on March 10, 1981, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Milan's public library.
His essay De Bibliotheca suggested that tomorrow's library should first and foremost be a place of life, a place where people want to go, where they feel at home. LivreEnsemble in Paris, Al Saqi in London, and Pages in Istanbul prove that the writer's prediction is coming true.
Sources :
https://www.association-livreensemble.fr/la-chaine-livreensemble/
https://kawa-news.com/top-3-des-plus-belles-bibliotheques-du-monde-arabe/
