THE ARAB BOOK MARKET EVOLVES, BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN.

Avicenna's founder Bill Kennedy, one of the most experienced observers of the region, notes that the book market in Saudi Arabia remains reasonably buoyant, despite the fluctuating oil price, with the Jarir bookstore chain still doing well. Kuwait is a stable market, showing strong figures from Growmore, which operates campus bookstores and also supplies institutions; children's books too are popular, with the bulk of sales through That Al Salasil's bookstores. Emile Tyan, CEO of Hachette Antoine, the Lebanese publisher and bookstore chain which has 14 shops, says "The market isn't growing, but books are still 85 to 90% of our sales. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Publishers Weekly is the property of PWxyz LLC and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)