Logos Hope, world’s largest floating book fair, coming to the UAE

Ship to leave Basra on Friday and set sail for the Emirates — with 5,000 titles on board

Logos Hope will arrive in the UAE next week and stay until June. Photo: GBA Ships

Logos Hope, the world’s largest floating book fair, is coming to the UAE.

The ship, which has 5,000 titles on board and sets sail from Basra, Iraq, on Friday, will visit three ports around the Emirates.

It will dock at Ras Al Khaimah Port between April 11 and 16, before making its way to Dubai’s Port Rashid from April 18 to 23 and finally Abu Dhabi’s Cruise Terminal at Marsa Mina, Port Zayed, from May 17 to June 5.

The boat is free to board and houses books spanning different genres and subjects, including science, sports, cookery, arts, medicine, languages and faith, along with children’s titles, academic texts, dictionaries and atlases.

“Coming to the UAE is very exciting for us,” Silas Bosch, advance preparation project manager of the Logos Hope, tells The National.

The book fair last visited Dubai in 2011, and organisers are planning a special return to Port Rashid with an opening ceremony.

There will be a speech from Logos Hope captain, Ionut Vlad from Romania, who lives on board with his family, before a cultural performance and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“We love how the UAE government has so many initiatives to encourage and promote reading and how they invest in libraries around the country,” Bosch says.

“The Ministry of Culture has been so welcoming, we have an aligned vision on encouraging reading throughout the world.”

Events will also take place on board, including a children's play, performances by crew members and an arts and culture fair. Tickets for the events can be purchased on board.

Visitors can learn about the history of the Logos Hope through a short video and interactive displays in the welcome area, and visit the cafe on board.

“One of the highlights for many visitors is just the experience of stepping on board a very big ship for the first time,” Bosch says.

“Our books are also very affordable; a lot of people point out that they are glad about that price point, so they can purchase good quality literature.”

This year the seven countries Logos Hope has already docked in include Lebanon and Egypt, where the boat was docked at Port Said and welcomed more than 65,000 visitors in its first 10 days. Logos Hope then went on to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Iraq.

The seafaring book fair launched in 1970 with the purchase of the original Logos, operated by the German non-profit group Good Books for All.

They have since visited 480 different ports in more than 150 countries, welcoming 49 million people. The crew, which will be visiting the UAE, is made up of 350 volunteers from more than 65 different nationalities.

More information is available at www.gbaships.org

The Logos Hope floating library at Egypt’s Port Said – in pictures