Egypt: Library on wheels in Cairo streets

Egypt is developing a new reading culture.

In the streets of Cairo, mobile bookshops is now a common phenomenon.

Hadeer Mansour co-owns Books Bike, a mobile bookshop and she cycles through neighbourhoods in the Egyptian capital, stopping to allow customers to browse her cart and buy a book.

“We chose the design of the bike to be suitable to carry books and at the same time to be attractive for children so that they can browse through books on their own, without help, and also so we can take it anywhere we want and not have to abide by one location, or one store,” Mansour said.

Their aim is to encourage more people to take up reading by bring books closer to them.

Books Bike has a special section for children and sells Arabic and English language books.

“It’s good, of course. There should be more encouragement for the youth to read – the media, visual and audible, should help. The spread of mobile libraries is a good opportunity,” said Morsi Mohamed a customer.

Mansour hopes to expand the programme, so as to share her love of reading. Currently with one mobile cart, she has garnered a lot of attention. Book Bike hopes to receive support from publishers in the near future.

Reuters