HUNDREDS of readers flocked to a novel display of more than one million works of literature at the Bargain on Books exhibition which took place at the Gulf Air Club in Salmabad, writes STAN SZECOWKA.
The five-day event was organised for the first time in Bahrain by Dar Al Kalima in association with Dubai-based Pioneer House.
Pioneer House CEO Mohammed Tahir Rafiq said more than 400,000 books were sold in the first four days.
"We are very happy with the outcome of this exhibition and people have been asking us to make it an annual event," he said.
"We had 20,000 children's books in addition to fiction/non-fiction novels, general reference, health, cooking and books about business."
Mr Rafiq said the high quality books were from all over the world.
"This exhibition was held previously in Duabi, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Since we are wholesalers of books we wanted to provide reasonably priced books directly to the public," he said.
"We also wanted to encourage people - especially children - to get into the habit of reading instead of just spending their free time watching television or playing video games."
Discounted prices from 25 per cent to 95 per cent were offered on the published price of the books.