Muscat – William Shakespeare, Arthur Conan Doyle, Jane Austen and Paulo Coelho are but some of the many writers whose Arabic translations have proved favourites among book lovers at the 26th edition of Muscat International Book Fair which opened at Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre on Thursday.

Running till March 5, the book fair is expected to draw thousands of bibliophiles. Inaugurated by H H Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham al Said, Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, 715 publishing houses representing 27 countries are participating in this edition of the book fair.

Hikmet Kabbani, a book vendor from Turkey, said, “Books are here to stay contrary to the popular belief that Internet entertainment has taken over. In Turkey, you find people on trains with books, not mobile phones. Our publishing house is based in Turkey, but we print classics in Syria. Most of the translations are by Syrian literary experts, professors or academicians. The translations are precise and rarely change the narrative.”

He added that in Oman, readers prefer classics, mainly thrillers and romance. “Sherlock Holmes is still very popular in Oman.”

Vinith P, sales manager of Good Readers from UAE, said, “We have been taking part in the Sharjah Book Festival for years and I can say confidently that people still love to read books. We have a collection of books from all over the world, some of which are translated into Arabic.”

Manning the stall of Samaa Publishing from Egypt, Mohammad Ali said, “We have books specifically from Egypt. Writers and poets from Egypt are very popular in Oman and the entire Gulf region. We are happy to be back at the fair after a couple of years. The crowd today – the first day – is very impressive.”

Besides fiction, there are books on science, technology and management, which are being picked up by students, colleges and libraries.

Saba Sayed from Kuwait’s Darakkhan Publishing House said, “Among our wide selection, there are titles for colleges and universities. We are seeing a good response from academicians who purchase these books.” The stall has also stocked a collection of classics.

In anticipation of a demand for biographies, several stalls are dedicated to this genre, where visitors were seen leafing through books on Nelson Mandela, Madonna and Barack Obama among others. Contemporary writers from Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari to the icon of Indian pop fiction Chetan Bhagat also line the shelves of stalls.

Research papers are another sough-after genre at the fair. Papers on law, environment and creative arts are also on display. Zaid bin Hamood el Esai, representative of the technical bureau of the Supreme Court, said, “We publish two books annually on the court cases in Oman – civil and criminal cases. We write on the various judgments and principles of law. We have been publishing books since 2003 and the response has been great, both among civilians and students of law.”