By Goth Mohamed Goth
Hargeisa – Against the vibrant backdrop of Somaliland’s cultural renaissance, the 19th Hargeisa International Book Fair commenced with an impassioned celebration of the written word, drawing together a mosaic of poets, novelists, academics, and diplomats. Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the international diplomatic community, Ms. Louise Hancock, Head of the British Office in Somaliland, took to the stage to articulate a vision of literature not merely as a repository of knowledge, but as the very engine of independent thought and societal evolution.
She anchored her address with a deeply personal creed that would echo throughout the proceedings:
“I never went anywhere without a book. It taught me how to think, not what to think.”
Opening with the warm bilingual greeting of “Subax Wanaagsan” and “Good morning,” Hancock immediately bridged cultures, welcoming a distinguished assembly of international scholars, celebrated authors, emerging artists, and voracious bibliophiles. She extended a particularly notable welcome to the delegation from Eswatini, this year’s esteemed guest country—a powerful testament to the pan-African literary solidarity that the fair continues to foster.
Expressing profound gratitude for her second consecutive year at the festival, Hancock paid homage to the visionary architects behind its endurance: Dr. Jama M. Jama, the Red Sea Cultural Foundation, and the Hargeisa Cultural Centre. She lauded their nearly two-decade-long stewardship, noting that the survival and flourishing of the fair through nineteen editions is nothing short of monumental—a vivid testament to its stature as one of the longest-running and most resilient literary gatherings in the Horn of Africa.
Reflecting on this year’s resonant theme, “Continuity,” Hancock offered a profound meditation on the role of books as temporal vessels. Continuity, as she articulated, is not a passive inheritance but an active, deliberate dialogue between eras. In a region where oral tradition runs deep, the written word serves as an indispensable anchor, ensuring that ancestral wisdom is not merely preserved, but critically examined and creatively adapted to meet contemporary challenges. Books, she posited, are the resilient threads stitching together the tapestry of human identity—they safeguard history, fortify cultural bonds, and plant the intellectual seeds for tomorrow’s solutions.
Sharing a window into her own formative years, Hancock painted an evocative picture of her younger self as a consummate “bookworm” who rarely ventured anywhere without a literary companion. For her, reading was never an escape from reality, but rather a profound engagement with it. It was in the quiet solitude of pages that she discovered the crucible of independent thought—a sanctuary for intellectual sovereignty where she learned to question, interpret, and reason, rather than simply absorb prescribed dogma.
As she formally declared the fair open, Hancock issued a stirring clarion call to the next generation. She urged readers, writers, educators, and especially the youth gathered beneath the festival’s banner to view themselves not just as consumers of stories, but as active custodians of the future narrative. She challenged them to renew their commitment to lifelong learning, to defend the vitality of literature, and to champion the accessibility of books for all.
Her closing remarks resounded with hope and aspiration. She expressed her fervent belief that this year’s festival would serve as a fertile ground for fresh ideas, ignite intellectually daring conversations, and rekindle a lasting, visceral love for the written word.
Ultimately, her words reinforced the Hargeisa International Book Fair’s enduring mission: to stand as a living institution that celebrates literature as the ultimate bridge across generations, geographies, and ideologies—ensuring that the knowledge of the past continues to illuminate the possibilities of the future, and that the spark of curiosity is faithfully passed from one hand to the next.
