With Ibn Battuta as a guide, the Rabat International Book Fair traces the journey of a Moroccan Muslim traveler from Tangier who spent 29 years crisscrossing the globe. He left behind a unique legacy in his work, “Tuḥfet ün-nuẓẓār fī ġarā’ib il-emṣār” (A Treatise for the Observer on the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travel), making his journey an invitation to read and contemplate, for “the book is a journey, and the journey is a book.”
A journey, intellectual figures, Moroccan cultures, and an openness to wider world cultures – all of this comes together in the 31st edition of the Rabat International Book Fair, its latest edition. The fair honors Ibn Battuta and welcomes France as guest of honor, following Paris’s invitation to Morocco as its own guest of honor at last year’s book fair.
Ibn Battuta’s account, dictated to Ibn Jazi, accompanies visitors’ journey through the book fair, with excerpts from various stages before entering exhibition halls. Also, a storytelling reenactment of his character directed to young people – special sections dedicated to his travels, particularly the ‘Tuhfat al-Nazar,’ include manuscripts, maps, and an interactive screen featuring his accounts of the Maldives, Iraq, India, Timbuktu, etc. Moreover, contemporary photographs of the landmarks he visited, “stopping at cities of Andalusia, Morocco, and the Arabian Peninsula, starting from Tangier, passing through Ceuta, Granada, and Constantinople, before concluding in Fez.”
The fair also showcases investigations of “The Journey,” most notably Abdelhadi Tazi’s edition published by the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, alongside its translations into several languages, including Chinese. The celebration of Ibn Battuta’s journey is not confined to Morocco’s pavilion, as China’s also invites visitors to “follow in Ibn Battuta’s footsteps to discover China,” presenting images from across the republic.
Ibn Battuta is not the only figure remembered in the countries he once visited. The fair features informational panels of other Moroccan figures: Ibn Rochd (Averroes), Al-Sharif al-Idrisi, Fatima al-Fihri, and others.
Another pavilion also showcases numerous Moroccan and global figures, including Al-Qadi Ayyad, Mohamed Aziz al-Hababi, Shimon Levy, and many others.
In another pavilion of the Ministry of Culture, the fair introduces Moroccan elements included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. These include Moroccan Arabic calligraphy (jointly registered alongside 14 other Arab countries), zellije, and caftan, alongside quotations from books across history describing these cultural expressions in various Moroccan cities – written by Ibn al-Qadi, Carvajal Marmol, Ibn Khaldun, and others.
In the pavilion of the Mimouna Association for Jewish cultural heritage, named “Al-Zohra al-Fasiyya” (The Flower of Fez), visitors discover other figures of Moroccan music and their careers and melodies, including Sami El Maghribi, Haim Botbol, Raymond El Oujdi, and others.
Several pavilions showcase Moroccan Islamic manuscripts in Arabic too, including the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs, the Al Saud Library for Islamic Studies and Humanities in Casablanca, etc.
The pavilion of the Ministry of Habous offers interactive screens to browse Moroccan manuscripts and mosques across cities and through history, as well as to complete quizzes on the prophet’s biography.
The Pavilion of Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif features a model of the Dome of the Rock alongside the Moroccan flag. It offers interactive screens for children to introduce them to Palestinian culture and the close ties between Morocco and Jerusalem, as well as juvenile books on the heritage of the Palestinian capital, alongside research and journals on the history of Jerusalem and Palestine and how Morocco, Moroccans, and King Mohammed VI support preserving its Islamic character.
The ongoing Israeli genocide in Palestine is also addressed by the Amnesty International pavilion, which presented banners on its walls, denouncing the racist Israeli law that mandates the death penalty for Palestinians alone while keeping other accused ethnicities imprisoned. The images and slogans also call for defending Sudanese people and their rights, including women’s freedom and that of opinion and expression.
At the book fair, certain professional pavilions showcased books by members of their staff, such as writings of journalists in the Moroccan National Press Union pavilion, those of diplomats in the Moroccan Diplomatic Club pavilion, and those of lawyers in the Bar Association pavilion. Whereas the Russian Embassy showcased Russian literary and artistic heritage alongside publications and the legacy of Moroccan graduates from former Soviet and subsequent Russian universities, the Ukrainian Embassy’s pavilion showcased children’s literature, whilst the Czech Embassy, innovatively, dedicated its entire pavilion to an exhibition on its most prominent literature figure: Kafka
The 31st edition of the International Book Fair in the capital coincides with Rabat being named World Book Capital by UNESCO, prompting the Foundation for the Preservation of Rabat’s Cultural Heritage to devote part of its pavilion to its publications for children and other categories, while other sections highlighted the book as “a central tool for conveying and preserving heritage: it preserves monuments, conveys knowledge, and allows exploring the sources of collective memory.”
The fair also showcases giant book sculptures featuring titles in Amazigh (Tifinagh script), Arabic, English, and French (Latin script).
One of the most prominent sections of this edition, which hosts France as guest of honor, is a special space dedicated to “The Little Prince,” recreating the fictional world of the most translated French story, whose author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, shaped it in Tarfaya, Morocco.
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