Echoes from the Tunisian blogosphere · Global Voices
Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Swobodin writes about how Project Gutenberg has over 10,000 books legally available for download in more than 50 languages, yet none of them are in Arabic. He goes on to talk about the inexistence of any Arabic books in an electronic format, and how Arab national libraries and cultural centers are not doing their job in promoting Arabic literature and culture.
MMM writes about the International Book Fair taking place in Tunisia and his dissapointment after visiting it. He sees the same religious books every year at most stands with different covers and colors, the same translated books about Yoga, Macrobiotics and self-help, the same old Arabic books by old Arabic writers, semi political books talking about age old issues or supposedly “hot”, yet unimportant, topics. Only a few interesting or important books are to be found among all the clutter. He goes on about how new Arabic books by new Arab writers are almost impossible to find. He then gets into statistics about Arab books and content in the world, and how there is basically no support for new writers in the Arab world (Arabic).
Heliodore writes about attending Paulo Coelho's press conference at the International Book Fair of Tunisia and publishes a couple of photos he took (French).
Adib writes about how he got to meet Paulo at the fair a few days later, how nice he was talking to people, and remembers how Coelho's book “The Alchemist” played an important role in his life (French).
Zizou, after reading a newspaper article about some parliamentary discussions about preserving the Tunisian culture and values, and a project to invest 3 million dinars into renewing Cinemas, he wonders how realistic their talks and plans are, and whether they're really tackling the real issues and finding the right solutions (French).
Swifty writes a great post about the scientific side of Islam and the different scientific facts that the Holy Koran already detailed over 1400 years ago. He published a selected list of some of these facts and the verses in the Koran that detail them (French).
Princess, on the occasion of the International Book Fair taking place these days, writes about the issue of how we almost don't have a reading culture in Tunisia. She talks about the people who act like they're intellectuals without having really read books, people who say they don't have time for books in between their “cool” everyday activities like going to clubs or coffee shops, and the students who barely read their school and university books (French).
Soufi gives a quick and short review of the European Cinema Days in Tunis, listing the unforgettable moments or details, as well as hiw favourite movies and scenes (French).
Zaratoustra writes about how the new French visa procedures require people to give their fingerprints and wonders when they'll be requiring DNA samples too, then jokes on about how 5 years down the line they might start requiring people to put an explosive bracelet around their necks that will blow up if their visa ends and they're still in France (French).