ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Although the Erbil International Book Fair increased the number of English sections compared to previous years, locals complained about the limited number of English books.

The 12th annual book fair in Erbil opened on April 5 and will run until April 15.

The event includes over 750,000 books in the Arabic, Kurdish, French, and Persian languages printed by 310 different publishers from over 18 countries.

Similar to previous years, books in Arabic dominated the fair which led to many locals criticizing the organizers for insufficient books in the English language.

“The number of English books in the fair is very limited,” Jalil Sleman told Kurdistan24 while searching for books related to his field—politics and international relations—in the English language.

“Of course, they have increased the English sections compared to the previous years, but it’s still insufficient,” he added.

Dlovan Mohammed, another buyer at the book fair, said he was happy to see more English books but called for the organizer to increase and diversify the types of books.