HARGEISA โ€“ The Hargeisa International Book Fair (HIBF) 2026 officially opened today, marking the beginning of one of Africa's premier literary and cultural events. The festival continues its tradition of bringing together writers, scholars, artists, publishers, and readers from around the world to celebrate literature, culture, and intellectual exchange.


The Founder of the Hargeisa International Book Fair (HIBF) and Chairman of the Hargeisa Cultural Centre, Dr. Jama Muse Jama, described the annual literary festival as a platform designed to introduce Somaliland to the international community through culture, knowledge, and literature.


Speaking about the vision behind the festival, Dr. Jama emphasized that the Hargeisa International Book Fair serves as a window through which the world can better understand Somaliland and its people.

"๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ž๐ข๐ฌ๐š ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐…๐š๐ข๐ซ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ž๐ง๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž ๐’๐จ๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐ฌ ๐š ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง."

The Hargeisa International Book Fair has become one of Africa's leading literary and cultural events, bringing together authors, scholars, artists, publishers, and readers from across the globe. Beyond celebrating literature, the festival provides an important platform for promoting Somaliland's culture, identity, intellectual achievements, and engagement with the international community.