For the second year in a row, El Maraya Publishing House finds itself excluded from the Cairo International Book Fair, without formal notification, a written decision or a clear explanation. Its account on the Egyptian Book Organisation’s website has been closed, applications have gone unanswered and effective channels of communication are absent—a pattern of unannounced exclusion confronting independent publishers in Egypt.
In this interview, engineer Yehia Fikry, the publishing house’s executive director, discusses the repeated exclusion, what happened this year and last, mediation efforts met with silence, and the unanswered questions about the reasons behind it. He also describes the economic and cultural consequences and El Maraya’s efforts to survive amid a severe crisis in independent publishing and growing restrictions on cultural activity.
What happened when El Maraya tried to participate in this year’s book fair?
The details are those we set out in our statement. The Book Organisation has a website, and each publisher has its own account. When applications open, publishers register electronically, without direct intervention.
This year, when registration opened, we logged into El Maraya’s account and found it closed. We could not register. Electronic registration was the only route; there was no alternative. As the deadline approached, the Publishers Union agreed with the Book Organisation to extend registration by a week or ten days. For that extension alone, the organisation required written applications rather than electronic registration.
We submitted a written application to the fair’s management and waited. No official reply came, either approving or rejecting it. Then a date was set for the draw that allocates publishers’ spaces in the exhibition halls, held at the Publishers Union. The date was announced, but we were not invited. At that point, we understood that participation was impossible and that we had been excluded from the outset, beginning with the closure of our registration account.
Did you formally request an explanation?
We contacted the Publishers Union to mediate with the Book Organisation and find out why. Nobody gave us a reason or an explanation. It was as though we were dealing with a completely solid wall. The union, to its credit, contacted the organisation more than once and told us it was waiting for a response. None had arrived by the time we issued our statement. That is all the information we have about the incident.
Was last year’s exclusion handled in the same way?
No. The situation was similar, but the details differed. Last year, our account was open and we submitted our application. After applications close, publishers should receive authorisation to pay the participation fees, but none was issued to us. We began contacting people to find out why, yet received no explanation or official reply from any party.
During that period we approached many parties, including the Publishers Union and numerous friends of El Maraya, seeking mediation simply to understand the problem. We asked whether we had made mistakes or committed violations, and what they were, so that we could correct them. We said clearly: “Tell us what the problem is and we will resolve it.”
Unfortunately, everyone we contacted last year tried to approach the organisation and obtain answers, but no response came before the fair ended. We found ourselves absent without any official explanation.
Almost the same scenario occurred twice, with one slight change: this year registration was blocked from the beginning. We could not apply at all. This year I decided to contact only the Publishers Union; there was no need for more intermediaries. It is our official representative and the body responsible for these arrangements with the Book Organisation. We simply asked it to tell us what the problem was. There has still been no reply.
How do you interpret what is happening, given that no reasons have been disclosed?
I have no explanation, and cannot even speculate about the reasons or motives. They leave us no way to understand why this is happening. We approached them very amicably and expressed our full willingness to understand and resolve any problem. We made that clear, but nobody sent us any kind of response. We are therefore excluded without understanding why.
Could the exclusion be connected to the publishing house’s outlook or its books?
I have no explanation, especially because other publishers similar to us, with comparable orientations, are participating normally. If the issue is El Maraya’s outlook, there are other houses with similar positions to which nothing has happened. If it is the kinds of books we publish, comparable books are being published and sold without facing action. Why us specifically, and why now? I have no explanation.
There has been speculation that the reason was the publication of political activist Ahmed Douma’s poetry collection Curly, particularly because a raid preceded the first exclusion. What is your response?
We did not print Curly last year. It was printed in 2021, while Douma was in prison. His brother contacted us and asked us to publish it. When I read it, I found a collection of love poetry and emotional reflections, with no content that I thought could create controversy or problems.
As a publishing house, before printing any poetry collection or book, we follow all legal procedures. We apply to the Egyptian National Library for a legal deposit number. The application includes the cover, contents, a summary, the author’s identification and details, and many other items. These applications are not examined by a single employee; various administrative and security bodies review the content before the number is granted.
This is known and openly acknowledged. Officials often tell us an application is still being reviewed by a particular body. In our case, we applied and obtained the deposit number—official approval to publish the book—and printed it on that basis.
That coincided with the 2021 Cairo International Book Fair. We participated, but people within the organisation and the fair then asked us not to display the collection. We complied immediately and withdrew it entirely. We kept the copies at our premises and did not distribute them to bookshops. Sales were limited to individual cases, such as the poet’s friends or acquaintances who came directly to us. We also gave some copies to his brother.
What about the book signing that later caused controversy?
Last year, after Ahmed Douma’s release from prison, he wanted to hold a signing. That was his natural right and I saw no problem with it. He had not asked to hold it at El Maraya; he arranged another venue, invited leading poets and then told me the date. I said I would be travelling then, but that did not present a problem for me.
I had no idea it would cause so much concern. While travelling, I was surprised by intense anxiety, accusations and a complaint to the prosecutor general alleging that the collection offended religion. I immediately contacted him and asked him to cancel the signing, which he did. I also asked colleagues at our premises to stop selling the collection to anyone who came to buy it, and they did so.
After I returned, the raid you mentioned took place. All our copies of the collection were seized, along with other items described in the statement we issued at the time. Since then, the matter has been over.
I stress that the collection was printed in 2021 after we obtained an official deposit number and after approval by the bodies that review these applications. When asked to withdraw it, we complied. When concerns arose about the signing, we cancelled it. Today we have no copies of the collection.
That is why I do not see how this collection can logically be the reason for excluding El Maraya from the Cairo Book Fair. It makes no sense to exclude a publisher over a book it no longer has, after it complied with all the instructions and requests concerning it.
What are the consequences of excluding El Maraya from the fair?
Excluding El Maraya, or any publisher, from the Cairo International Book Fair has severe negative consequences. It is the Arab world’s most important book market, attracting millions of visitors and providing a broad readership and real sales opportunities.
In the current economic crisis, books are among the goods people are least inclined to buy because there are more urgent living expenses. Traditional distribution through bookshops is also very limited and does not cover production costs. For us and many other publishers, the Cairo Book Fair is the main outlet that allows us to cover printing and production costs and keep operating.
El Maraya was founded in 2016 and participated regularly from 2017 through 2024. During those years, sales generally did not cover production costs, which is normal as a publisher gradually builds its work. In 2024, for the first time, sales covered those costs—a natural development after years of work. About 60% or more of those sales came through participation in the Cairo Book Fair.
In 2025, our absence caused a sharp decline in sales, directly and tangibly affecting our finances. This was not a passing setback we could easily absorb; it affected the publishing house’s stability. Missing the fair significantly damages a publisher’s ability to cover production costs and continue into future seasons.
What alternatives do you have after being excluded?
We have only one alternative, which we used last year and will repeat this year: a book fair inside El Maraya’s premises, open throughout the Cairo International Book Fair and during the same official hours.
We open our premises to the public and run a large publicity campaign inviting readers to see and buy our new titles. Alongside the fair, we organise cultural events, including discussions, signings and artistic evenings. These are activities we hold throughout the year.
Last year, during the parallel fair, we considerably increased these events, holding many discussions, signings and artistic evenings to attract visitors and encourage them to browse and buy the books on display.
We will repeat that experience this year: a fair on the same days and at the same hours as the Cairo fair, with a major campaign inviting our audience, friends and readers to visit, discover new titles and buy them. We will also hold cultural discussions, artistic evenings and signings for our publications.
The experience was tangibly successful last year. It brought clear cultural and moral support, with a broad section of Egyptian intellectuals rallying around El Maraya. It also compensated for part, though not all, of the financial losses.
The Cairo fair is different: it attracts a broad audience who may not know individual publishers and discovers them by chance. A master’s student in economics at Ain Shams University, for example, might encounter our economics books, buy them and recommend them to friends, creating a new readership. The same applies to history, social sciences, humanities, literature and other fields.
We cannot reach this audience, coming from different governorates and backgrounds, to the same extent through our parallel fair. Its visitors are mostly friends, readers, intellectuals and supporters already close to the publishing house. They are undoubtedly important and help offset some losses, but cannot compensate for them fully.
More broadly, what difficulties do independent publishers in Egypt face?
It is difficult to list all the obstacles publishers face, but I can speak specifically about El Maraya’s experience. First are obstructive administrative procedures, foremost exclusion from the Cairo International Book Fair, as well as raids by the artistic works police that we consider unjustified and that disrupt our work.
We also face continuing restrictions in different forms, including refusals to allow certain books and the suspension of publishing projects, such as our occasional El Maraya book series. These are recurring restrictions.
There are difficulties with sales and distribution too. Last year, without naming names, some large or influential bookshops refused to distribute our books after our exclusion, out of fear or a desire to avoid trouble. This was not the position of all bookshops—we still distribute through many—but the refusal by some outlets created another obstacle to reaching readers.
Book sales in general have become extremely limited, a problem shared by most publishers, because sales no longer match production costs. There is also the enormous increase in costs as paper and printing prices rise. Paper prices, for example, have increased more than tenfold over the past three years, placing huge financial burdens on publishers.
This forces us to raise book prices, reluctantly, while readers’ purchasing power declines and sales fall. We enter a vicious circle: high production costs, higher book prices, readers less able to buy and steadily falling sales. It is a harsh equation for publishing. Administrative obstacles, marketing difficulties and unprecedented production costs overlap in the same crisis.
There are possible solutions, but they require clear political choices, including support for domestic paper manufacturing to reduce production costs and make books more affordable, and easing administrative procedures and bureaucratic complications that obstruct publishers without real justification.
The future of publishing under these conditions is difficult to predict. Many factors are outside our control. I cannot speak generally, but I can discuss El Maraya because I know its situation.
In 2025, exclusion from the Cairo fair caused major financial losses. We had to draw on the publishing house’s capital to keep paying salaries and producing new books so that we would not stop working. This cannot continue for long: our finances are limited and we cannot bear these losses for years.
If these obstacles continue, El Maraya’s future could be threatened. We hope to avoid that scenario and are doing everything we can, but it remains possible amid growing financial pressure.
There are continuing pressures from administrative authorities and, for example, the Tax Authority. Although book sales are legally exempt from value-added tax, we are nevertheless asked to pay VAT amounts that sometimes reach millions of pounds. If those assessments were correct, they would imply sales of tens of millions—something completely unrealistic.
These pressures impose financial obligations beyond our actual capacity while sales decline and costs rise. How long can we continue? I have no definite answer, but if the situation continues as it is, El Maraya will not be able to carry on.
I cannot predict what will happen to other publishers, but Egypt’s economic crisis clearly obstructs all private and independent activity.
The state officially says it confronts extremism and terrorism while placing growing pressure on progressive, democratic writers, publishers and cultural institutions. Do you see a contradiction?
Yes, the contradiction is clear. But I think it can only be understood within the broader context of the state’s general policies and direction, which goes beyond this interview.
What is certain is that Egypt’s cultural policies increasingly impose clear, systematic restrictions on cultural production in its various forms. Films, television series, books and even digital content face repeated, accumulating restrictions, sometimes extending to confiscation, imprisonment or court proceedings over written, audio or visual content.
These restrictions inherently contradict any policy that professes intellectual freedom, creativity or opposition to extremism. It is illogical to fight extremism while restricting free expression and independent cultural production. Yet that contradiction cannot be separated from a broader system that extends beyond cultural policy to the overall management of public life in the country.
