Books, More Books and Authors

While eulogies for volumes with paper pages are being composed,

and Borders goes chapter 11,

 the 25th Jerusalem International Book Fair opened on Sunday night

 at Binyanei Ha’uma, the Jerusalem International Convention Center.

Very strong rains with thunder and lightning, a rarity in Jerusalem, 

  welcomed author Ian McEwan who was awarded the Jerusalem Prize

at an invitation-only event.

Monday morning the convention center doors opened to the public,

where one exhibition hall

after another

and another 

and another 

were filled with over 100,000 books from more than 30 countries.

Along with Hebrew and English, there is plenty of Russian

and Esperanto. 

 There are university publications

to children’s books,

and a chance for everyone to find

something interesting–

even Obama’s Secrets.

Tuesday at a symposium on E-publishing, Google books was one topic

presented to a large crowd by an international panel led by Yossi Vardi.

All week a Literary Cafe featuring Israeli and foreign writers is featured.

All day long there are varied discussions in a variety of languages.

One impressive example of the dynamic of the presentations:

after a well attended panel discussion led by Israeli editor Noa Manheim,

 Czech Republic author, Tomas Zmeskal of “Love Letter in Cuneiform Script”

speaks with an audience member.

Some people will stay inside at the fair from 10:00am to 10:00pm all week, but

it is doubtful that the Chilean miners who were trapped under ground

and arrive in Israel today for a visit

will be taken to a book fair, no matter how large or popular.

Hope they are used to the sunshine by now,

as spring temperatures and sun are here, at least for a short time,

and the scene of the Old City walls is also not to be missed.