Continuing our series of the Cairo International Book Fair features, “Trendify” spoke with Maha Khaled, 19, who has been writing ever since she was 8-years-old. Khaled started on “Wattpad”, an application for people to post their own fictional stories for others to read, and later on began writing on paper as it was her childhood dream to have her own book. She thought she needed to be 18-years-old to be able to have something published.
“I only have one published book, and hopefully it won’t be my last,” said Khaled. The novel is called “Marmont” and is published by “Damma” Publishing House.
“Marmont” is about a mental illness, where the heroine suffers from and stays at an asylum along with her doll (a male), and suddenly everything changes when that doll starts speaking.
“This book fair amazes us yearly since it is the biggest cultural event of the year and we couldn’t deny that the postponing that occurred last year affected us all as writers and readers,” explained Khaled. She added that she has great expectations for this year’s event where it will be extremely organized especially since we are in a pandemic.
Khaled expects that not many writers will be participating in the book fair, as the Coronavirus pandemic affected them psychologically, resulting in a “writer’s block”, which is the worst thing a writer could face.
The Cairo International Book Fair is considered the most important event for writers to have their work available for readers, even better than book stores or libraries. It is an event attended by visitors from different governorates and even other countries, added Khaled. “It is a great opportunity for my book to be recognised, even if not many copies are sold,” she added.
This novel was available in last year’s Book Fair and will be available again this year. “I have noticed that more copies were sold in book fairs than from bookstores, this makes my participation in the CIBF a great honour,” Khaled noted, adding that she is working on another novel and hopes to have it published in time for next year’s book fair.