Over 600,000 visited Istanbul book, art fairs

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s largest book fair was visited by more than half a million people, its organizers have announced.

The 38th International Istanbul Book Fair, organized by TÜYAP Fairs in partnership with the Turkish Publishers Association (TYB), was held between Nov. 2 and 10 at the TÜYAP Fair Congress and Convention Center in Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece district.

The Istanbul book fair and the 29th Istanbul Art Fair, ARTIST, was visited by 605,000 bibliophiles and art-lovers, TÜYAP fairs said.

The number of students visiting the fairs as part of a school trip was 221,293, with an annual increase of 20 percent, it added, thanking the Istanbul Governor’s Office, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the provincial directorate of education for cooperation.

Over 800 national and international publishers and non-governmental organizations attended the fair, which included around 300 cultural events and thousands of autograph sessions. Over 30 books made their debut during the fair.

The book fair’s theme was “The Generation 50 in Our Literature,” and the Writer of Honor was Adnan Özyalçıner.