Bookstore on wheels turns heads in Baghdad
The Iraqis guarding Baghdad's many checkpoints, on the lookout for car bombs and convoys, don't know what to make of Ali al-Moussawi when he pulls up in a truck displaying shelves of glossy books. The mobile bookstore is the latest in a series of efforts by the 25-year-old to share his passion for reading and […]Sinan Salaheddin reports for AP:
The Iraqis guarding Baghdad's many checkpoints, on the lookout for car bombs and convoys, don't know what to make of Ali al-Moussawi when he pulls up in a truck displaying shelves of glossy books.
The mobile bookstore is the latest in a series of efforts by the 25-year-old to share his passion for reading and revive a love for books in Baghdad, which was once the literary capital of the Muslim world but is now better known for bombs than poems.
It began with "Iraqi Bookish," a Facebook group for readers launched in 2015. He eventually started organizing book clubs, contests, signings and writing seminars held at cultural centers and cafes.
