ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The sixth edition of the Sulaimani International Book Fair opened on Friday, featuring nearly 200 publishers and contributors from dozens of countries. 

Previous years, visitors have numbered more than 150,000, according to Gulan Mirwan, head of marketing for the fair.

“This year, we are expecting an even larger turnout, given the diverse categories and topics available at the exhibition, I am confident that the sales will be very good,” she told Rudaw. 

The fair features a wide range of books in various languages.

Shawkat Mala Smaeil is a Kurdish writer who was among the visitors on the opening day. He was hoping to find some specialized reference books.

“I read more in the field of Kurdish language or dictionaries. I work in the field of lexicography and have a dictionary called 'Mamosta' which is a Kurdish-to-English dictionary,” he told Rudaw, adding “I came to buy a couple of books, one of which is the Henbane Borine dictionary.”

Henbane Borine is a famous Kurdish dictionary written by Abdurrahman Sharafkandi, known by his pen name Hazhar. It was the first Kurdish-Persian dictionary published in Iran. 

Luqman Rahmani, a bookstore owner from western Iran, said that he participated in the fair to introduce Kurdish books from his area to the people of the Kurdistan Region “to strengthen our connection.” 

The fair will run for 11 days, open daily from 10:00am to 6:00pm. 

Donya Seif Qazi contributed to this article.