Muscat International Book Fair

The concept of having an international book fair in Oman first started in the 30th of October, 1992. A number of publications from 19 different countries participated in it. It was a success and so, they've had another book fair the year after from the 20th to the 29th of October, 1993 with 20 countries participating.

And then, the book fair stopped for while to put up expectations for the coming stage and to figure out what needs to be done to better it.

And in 1997, the Muscat International Book Fair re-opened after formating a government committee consisting of:
- The Ministry of Information.
- The Ministry of Heritage and Culture.
- Sultan Qaboos University.
This committee is responsible of making the book fair grow and become a success.

The third round of the book fair began in 1997 with (176) participants, (100) participants across Agencies and 18 countries participated. The success continued all the way. And in 2007, 316 participants from 20 countries contributed in making it a mega hit.

In this year's book fair, from the 27th of February to the 7th of March, 548 publishing houses from 31 different countries are participating with Turkey being among that list for the very first time. There are so many participations this year that they had to add two extra halls to fit them all. One hall is entirely dedicated to English and foreign publications. The total space of the halls combined is about 6354 square meter.

More statistics on this year's book fair to be published after the end of it.