‘Here we are again in 2025’: Montreal Arabic Book Fair returns for 2nd edition

‘Montreal Speaks Arabic’, that’s the slogan for the Montreal Arab Book Fair, which is now officially registered as an annual event for many years to come by the Canadian government.

Labelled as new initiative, the Arabic Book Fair made a grand return after three years away. The event launched on Friday night and runs through the weekend in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges borough.

Dubbed the most important Arab Cultural Event in Montreal by the Association of Public Services for the Integration of Immigrants (SPDI), they say that this year’s edition aims to bring together Arab intellectuals in a space where they can, share dialogue and strengthen ties within the community.

“We need this gathering and we need the people to come around and see what their needs are,” said Sarah Mohamed, CEO of Tamara Books, a publishing house that produces books for all ages.

As Mohamed puts it, these gatherings allow publishing houses like hers and those alike to see what their clientele expects in publishing so they can fill the gap of what’s really needed in the market.

Similarly, Yazid Rahmouni, owner of the Almaziri Publishing House in Tunisia and now with a newly established location in Ottawa, explains the challenges faced by both newly arrived immigrants and those long established, who struggle to find books written in Arabic.

“These books, it’s not easy to find them, especially in the West, you know, not in Arabic countries,” said Yazid Rahmouni, owner of the Almaziri Publishing House.

“That’s why when I bring these kind of books here, and people, they tell me, wow, it’s something, we’re really excited to see these kinds of books in here,” he added.

After also determining a strong need for children’s books for Arabic families within the community, organizers say they chose to include many publishers this year, like Sarah Mohamed’s ‘Tamara Books’, that offer a wide array of children’s titles to choose from.

“First we started for children books in three languages, Arabic, French and English. And also we have some bilingual books to help children to learn Arabic by comparing the two languages together,” said Mohamed.

After attending the Montreal Arabic Book Fair at its inception back in 2022, Mohamed recalls the positive remarks she received from parents who struggled to teach Arabic to their children born in Canada.

“Arabic is a very hard language to learn, so we are focusing on adding very attractive illustrations,” said Mohamed.

The goal she says, is to get children to start reading in Arabic, which she encourages them to do not only through illustrations, but also through interactive exercises included in her books.

Not only does the fair include many titles for all age groups, but it also offers a wide range, from educational books to help non-Arabic speakers learn their native language to fiction novels for simple entertainment.

“We are now developing more by adding titles for young adults, and we are focusing on this particular age for adventure books, mystery books, because this is the age that search for these topics, and we started also for books for adults, like novels, short stories and so on,” explained Mohamed.

Rahmouni says he also has books for all ages, but as a former teacher in College, he can’t help but offer more books that elicit a certain type of skill.

“We focus a lot on critical thinking books. So it’s something new here, I believe in Montreal or in Canada in general. So, I think it’s a good opportunity for the readers to see these kinds of books here.”