Inside Beirut’s Fight To Save Its Reading Culture

(found via LongReads).

As reading declines and self-censorship grows, bookshops are shuttering in the city once hailed as the Arab world’s publishing capital.

Bookstores and literary institutions that once flourished in Beirut have shuttered over the past few years. For New Lines Magazine, Amelia Dhuga reports on this wider trend in the city’s creative scene. “In the last six years alone,” an editorial director at a publishing house tells Dhuga, “Lebanon has faced a revolution, a financial crisis, the port blast, COVID-19, political instability and a war.” Businesses have been forced to shut down, facing immense financial pressure. Books and authors are being censored. People are exhausted, preoccupied, or simply don’t have the disposable income to invest in literature. Despite all of this, Beirut’s remaining literary spaces are trying to stay afloat and learning to adapt.