For the second year in a row, El Maraya publishing house finds itself outside the walls of the Cairo International Book Fair, without official notification, a written decision, or even a clear explanation justifying this exclusion. A locked account on the website of the General Egyptian Book Organisation, requests that go unanswered, and a complete absence of any effective channels of communication, in a scene that reflects a recurring pattern of undeclared bans that haunts independent publishing houses in Egypt.
In this interview, Engineer Yehia Fikry, the publishing house’s executive director, opens the file of the repeated ban from the fair, reviewing the details of what happened this year and last year, the mediation attempts that were met with silence, and the open questions about the real reasons behind this exclusion. In addition, the interview touches on the economic and cultural repercussions of the ban, and the publishing house’s strategies for survival and continuity, amid a stifling crisis battering the independent publishing industry and a growing tightening of the cultural sphere that puts the future of entire publishing houses at stake.
What are the details of the ban on El Maraya taking part in the book fair this year?
The details are the same ones we announced in the statement issued by the publishing house. There is a website belonging to the Book Organisation, and each publishing house has its own account on it. When registration for the fair opens, participation is registered electronically without any direct intervention.
What happened this year is that when registration opened, we logged into El Maraya’s account and found it locked, and we were unable to register. There was no means of registering other than electronic registration, and there is no alternative method. As the end of the registration period approached, the Publishers Union agreed with the Book Organisation to extend the registration period by a week or ten days. In this case only, the Organisation required that applications be submitted through written requests, not through electronic registration.
Meanwhile, we did submit a written request, handed it to the fair’s administration, and waited for a reply. But no official reply reached us, neither approval nor rejection. After that, the date of the draw was set, because there is a draw held among publishing houses to determine display locations inside the fair’s halls, and this draw is held at the Publishers Union. The date of the draw was announced, and we were not invited to it. At that moment we understood that there was no possibility of our taking part in the fair, and that the ban had been in place from the outset, starting with the locking of our account on the registration website and preventing us from registering in the first place.
Did you formally ask for the reasons to be clarified?
We contacted the Publishers Union to mediate between us and the Book Organisation, in an attempt to learn the reasons. No one told us any reasons, and no one offered us any explanation. It was as if we were dealing with a completely solid wall. The Publishers Union, to its credit, contacted the Organisation once and twice, and informed us that it was waiting for a reply from it, and up to the time the statement was issued no reply had arrived. This is all the information and detail we have about the incident.
Was El Maraya banned in the same way last year?
No, last year the situation was similar, but with different details. Last year our account on the Book Organisation’s website was open, and we did submit the application to take part. After the application period ends, payment orders are supposed to be issued to publishing houses to pay the participation fees, but no payment order was issued to us. We started moving and making contacts to find out the reason, but no reply reached us from any party: no explanation, no clarification and no official reply of any kind.
During that period, we contacted many parties, among them the Publishers Union and many friends of El Maraya, in an attempt to mediate with the Organisation, just so that we could understand what the problem was. We asked them to tell us whether we had made mistakes or committed violations, and what those violations were, so that we could correct them. We said clearly: “Tell us the problem and we will solve it.”
But unfortunately. Everyone we contacted last year tried, to their credit, to contact the Organisation and look for answers, but no reply came until the fair ended, and we found ourselves not taking part in it, without any official explanation.
Almost the same scenario was repeated both times, with a slight modification, which is that this year the door to registration was closed from the outset. We were not able to register at all. And this year I decided that we would contact only the Publishers Union, because the matter no longer needed other intermediaries. There is an official body that represents us, the Publishers Union, as the publishers’ syndicate and the body responsible for these arrangements with the Book Organisation. We simply told them: “Tell us what the problem is, but there has been no reply so far.”
So how do you explain what is happening, given that the reasons are undeclared and unclear?
In truth, I have no explanation, nor even the ability to guess at the reasons for or motives behind this ban. They leave us no room to understand why this is happening. We asked them in a very friendly manner, and expressed our full readiness to understand and solve any problem. We said clearly that we were ready to solve any problem they would tell us about, but no one sent us any reply of any kind. And so we are banned, without understanding why we were banned.
Can the ban be linked to the publishing house’s orientation or its publications?
I have no explanation, especially since there are other publishing houses similar to us, with orientations close or similar to those of El Maraya, and they exist and take part in the fair normally. If it is said that the problem lies in El Maraya’s orientations, there are other houses with close orientations and nothing has happened to them. And if it is said that the problem lies in the kind of books we publish, there are similar books that are published and sold and have not faced any measures. So why us specifically? And why at this time? I have no explanation.
إغلاق 120 مكتبة وبيت ثقافة في مصر.. سياسة الانكماش الثقافي تكتسب طابعًا رسميًا
There has been talk that the reason is the printing of the “Curly” poetry collection by political activist Ahmed Douma, especially since it followed a raid on the publishing house’s premises before the ban the first time. What is your comment?
We did not print the “Curly” collection last year. This collection was printed in 2021, while Douma was in prison; his brother contacted us and asked to publish the collection with us. When I read it, I found it to be an emotional collection, containing love poems and sentimental reflections, and it does not contain any content that could stir controversy or cause a problem.
Naturally, as a publishing house, before printing any collection or book, we comply fully with the legal procedures, as we go to the Egyptian National Library and Archives to obtain the legal deposit number. The application includes the book’s cover, its table of contents, a summary of its content, the author’s ID card and details, and many other particulars. These applications do not pass through just one employee; they are reviewed by multiple bodies, among them administrative bodies and others that are security bodies, which examine the content before granting the deposit number.
This is known and declared, and the authority’s employees often inform us that the application is still under review by a particular body. In our case, we submitted the application and did obtain the deposit number, that is, the official approval to publish the book, and on that basis we printed it.
That coincided with the 2021 Cairo International Book Fair. We took part in the fair, and then parties within the Organisation and the fair asked us not to display the collection. We responded to this request immediately and withdrew the collection from display entirely. We kept the copies at the publishing house’s premises and did not distribute it to any bookshops. Sales were limited only to individual cases, such as friends or acquaintances of the poet who came directly to the publishing house’s premises, and we also handed a number of copies to his brother.
And what about the signing event around which a crisis was later raised?
Last year, after the poet Ahmed Douma came out of prison, he wanted to hold a signing event for the collection. This is his natural right, and I saw no problem in it. He did not, in fact, ask to hold the event at El Maraya’s premises; he made an arrangement with another venue and invited major poets to attend, then informed me of the event’s date. I told him at the time that I would be travelling then, but that this did not pose any problem for me.
I had no idea that this matter would cause all this concern. While I was travelling, I was surprised to find a state of severe concern, accusations, and a complaint submitted to the Public Prosecutor accusing the collection of contempt of religion. I contacted him immediately and asked for the signing event to be cancelled, and it was indeed cancelled. I also asked colleagues at the publishing house’s premises to stop selling the collection entirely to anyone who came to buy it, and this was carried out.
After I returned from my trip, the raid you referred to took place. During it, 100% of the copies of the collection we had were seized, in addition to other belongings, according to what was stated in the statement we issued at the time. Since then, the matter has been completely over.
I affirm here that the collection was printed in 2021 after obtaining an official deposit number from the Egyptian National Library and Archives, and after the approval of all the relevant bodies that review these applications. When we were asked to withdraw the collection, we complied. When concern was raised about the signing event, we cancelled it. And today we do not have a single copy of the collection.
Therefore, I do not see it as logical that this collection is the reason El Maraya has been banned from taking part in the Cairo Book Fair, as it is unreasonable for a publishing house to be banned because of a book it does not have, having complied with all the instructions and requests relating to it.
What are the consequences of banning El Maraya from taking part in the fair?
Banning El Maraya, or any publishing house, from taking part in the Cairo International Book Fair has serious negative effects. This fair is the most important book market in the Arab world; millions of visitors take part in it, and it provides a broad audience and real sales opportunities.
Amid the current economic crisis, the book has become one of the goods citizens are least inclined to buy, because there are more pressing living priorities. The traditional distribution market through bookshops is also very limited and does not cover production costs. For us, and for a large number of publishing houses, the Cairo Book Fair is the main outlet that makes it possible to cover printing and production costs and to keep working.
El Maraya was founded in 2016, and took part regularly in the Cairo Book Fair from 2017 until 2024. During these years, book sales mostly did not cover production costs, which is normal in the gradual build-up of any publishing house. But in 2024, for the first time, book sales succeeded in covering production costs, a natural development after years of work and accumulation. About 60% or more of these sales came through taking part in the Cairo Book Fair.
In 2025, because we did not take part in the fair, our sales fell sharply, which was reflected directly and tangibly in our financial capacities. This effect was not incidental or something that could be easily absorbed, but a real effect on the stability of the publishing house. Consequently, absence from the Cairo Book Fair has a very significant impact, and directly affects a publishing house’s ability to cover the costs of producing books and to continue into the coming seasons.
What are your alternative plans after the ban on taking part in the book fair?
We were left with only one alternative through which we dealt with this situation, which is what we did last year and will repeat this year: we decided to organise a book fair inside El Maraya’s premises, open throughout the days of the Cairo International Book Fair and with the same official opening hours as the fair.
During this period, we open the publishing house’s premises to the public and launch a wide publicity campaign inviting readers to see our new releases and buy them. Alongside the fair, we regularly organise cultural events inside El Maraya’s premises, including seminars, signing events and art evenings, an activity we carry on throughout the year.
But last year, in the context of the parallel fair, we stepped up these events considerably, organising a large number of seminars, signing events and art evenings accompanying the fair, whose main aim was to attract the public and encourage it to visit the publishing house and to see and buy the releases on display.
We will repeat the same experience this year: we will hold a book fair during the same days as the Cairo International Book Fair and with the same opening hours, while launching a large publicity campaign inviting our audience, our friends and our readers to visit the publishing house and discover and buy the new releases. In addition to displaying books, we will organise various events including cultural seminars, art evenings and signing events for the publishing house’s releases.
This experience, frankly, was tangibly successful last year, and brought El Maraya clear literary and moral gains, in the form of a wide segment of Egyptian intellectuals rallying around the publishing house. It also helped make up part of the financial losses, though it did not make up for them in full.
The Cairo International Book Fair has a different nature: it attracts a broad audience that does not necessarily know the publishing houses and discovers them by chance. A master’s student in economics at Ain Shams University, for example, may come by and come across economics books among our releases, start buying them, then recommend them to his friends, and in this way a new audience forms. The same applies to books of history, social sciences, the humanities, literature and others.
This kind of audience, coming from different governorates and from diverse backgrounds, cannot be reached to the same extent through the parallel fair, since the audience of the parallel fair is mostly made up of friends, readers, intellectuals and people in solidarity, that is, the original audience close to the publishing house. It is an important audience without doubt, and it helps make up part of the losses, but it does not make up for them in full.
Ahmed Douma on His Collection “Curly”: I Wrote It in Prison to Escape Defeat or Explosion
In general, what are the difficulties and challenges facing independent publishing houses in Egypt?
As for the difficulties and obstacles facing publishing houses in Egypt, it is hard to list them in general, but I can speak about the experience of El Maraya specifically. The first of these difficulties is obstructive administrative measures, foremost among them the ban on taking part in the Cairo International Book Fair, in addition to the raids the publishing house is subjected to by the Artistic Works Investigations police, in incidents we consider unjustified and which disrupt and hold up the work.
We also face continuous tightening in various forms, among them refusal to allow some books to be published, or the halting of publishing projects, such as the halt to the publication of the “El Maraya Non-Periodical Book”, all of which are repeated restrictive measures.
There are also difficulties related to sales and distribution outlets. Over the past year, without naming names, some large or influential bookshops refused to distribute our books after we were banned from taking part in the fair, out of fear or to avoid problems. It is true that this was not a general position of all bookshops, as we still distribute in a large number of them, but some outlets refusing to deal with us formed an additional obstacle to our books reaching readers.
In general, book sales as a whole have become very limited, which is a common difficulty facing most publishing houses, as these sales no longer match production costs. In addition to that, there is a crisis of another kind, represented by the enormous rise in production costs as a result of higher paper and printing prices. Paper prices, for example, have multiplied more than tenfold over the past three years, which places huge financial burdens on publishing houses.
This situation forces us, as publishing houses, to raise book prices out of necessity, not by choice, but at the same time the public’s purchasing power declines, which leads to lower sales. Here we enter a vicious circle: high production costs, higher book prices, a public less able to buy, and sales that keep falling. It is an extremely harsh equation for the publishing industry. Consequently, we face an interlocking set of difficulties: administrative difficulties, marketing difficulties and an unprecedented rise in production costs, all of them crises layered on top of one another in the same context.
Of course, there are possible solutions, but they require clear political orientations; among them is supporting the paper industry locally, which would make it possible to reduce production costs and thus make books available at lower prices. Likewise, easing the administrative procedures and bureaucratic complications that obstruct the work of publishing houses without any real justification.
As for the future of publishing houses in light of these obstacles, it is a hard question to answer, because many factors govern it, most of them beyond our will. I cannot speak in general, but I can speak about the situation of El Maraya specifically, because I am familiar with its details.
In 2025, our ban from taking part in the Cairo International Book Fair caused large financial losses, and we were forced to draw on the publishing house’s core capital so that we could keep paying salaries and continue producing new books, so as not to stop working. But this situation cannot go on for long: our financial means are limited, and we cannot bear these losses for years to come.
If these obstacles continue, the future of El Maraya may be threatened with discontinuation. We hope we do not reach this scenario, and we are doing our utmost to avoid it, but it remains a real possibility amid mounting financial pressures.
In addition to that, there is continuous pressure from administrative bodies, and from the Tax Authority, for example. Although the sale of books is legally exempt from value added tax, we are at the same time required to pay value added taxes estimated at times at millions of pounds, which assumes, if it were true, that we make sales in the tens of millions, which is entirely unrealistic.
This continuous pressure places us before financial obligations that exceed our actual capacity, amid falling sales and rising costs. And so the question remains: how long can we continue? I do not have a definitive answer, but what is certain is that if the situation stays as it is, El Maraya will not be able to continue working.
As for the other publishing houses, I cannot predict their fate, but it is clear that the economic crisis in Egypt is hindering all private and independent activities, which has become evident to everyone.
It is officially announced that the state is confronting extremism and terrorism, while at the same time mounting pressure is being exerted on progressive and democratic writers, publishing houses and cultural institutions. Do you see this as a contradiction?
Yes, this contradiction is clear, but in my estimation it can only be understood in a broader context relating to the state’s general policies and orientations, a context that goes beyond the scope of this interview at this moment.
What is certain is that cultural policies in Egypt have come to exercise clear and systematic restrictions on cultural production in its various fields and manifestations. The production of films, television series or books, or even digital content on the internet, all faces repeated and accumulating restrictions, which at times extend to confiscation, imprisonment, or referral to the courts because of written, audio or visual content.
These restrictions and constraints by their nature contradict any policy that declares its adoption of the values of intellectual freedom and creativity, or of confronting hardline thinking and extremism. It is illogical to fight extremism on the one hand while at the same time restricting spaces for free expression and independent cultural production. However, this contradiction cannot be separated from a wider system that goes beyond the limits of cultural policies alone and extends to the general framework for managing the public sphere in the country.
