GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Only one Palestinian publishing house, Dar al-Jundi Publishing and Distribution House of Jerusalem, exhibited its wares at the Cairo International Book Fair this year.

The 48th edition of the book fair took place under the theme “Youth and Future Culture” with the participation of 670 publishers from 35 countries, including 22 Arab and African countries. It began Jan. 26 and ended Feb. 10.

Most Palestinian publishing houses did not take part in the fair due to the high prices they would have to charge for books in Cairo as a result of the rise of the US dollar against the Egyptian pound. Samir al-Jundi, the owner of Dar al-Jundi, said publishers feared they would not be able to sell their books at the fair due to the drop in the pound. It hovered around 19 to the dollar during the fair, although the pound has strengthened to around 16 to the dollar now.

Jundi told Al-Monitor that the drop in the pound made it hard to market books at the fair. He said the prices of some books reached around 400 pounds during the fair, beyond what many Egyptian customers were willing or able to pay.