For the third year in a row, Madrid locals and visitors will get the chance to enjoy the schedule of activities known as "Casa Árabe’s Thousand and One Nights at the Book Fair,” an event taking place from May 31 through June 15 in our institution’s gardens.

The continuity of this program builds up the excellent relationship between Casa Árabe and the Book Fair, two fundamental cultural spaces during Madrid’s springtime, which fill the days and nights with books and music from other latitudes every year.

As on prior occasions, on Fridays and Saturdays, around the fair’s closing time (8:45 p.m.), a street parade will be given by the music group Al-Marán, featuring Middle Eastern dancer Neftis Paloma, who will walk along the way between Casa Árabe’s Balqís bookstore stand (number 77) and our institution’s gardens, across from the Paseo de Coches in the Retiro Park.

Once there, Casa Árabe will be hosting various performances, starting with the duo made up of Syrian guitarist Yazan Ibrahim and the singer from Jaén, Blanca La Almendrita (Friday, May 31), the unmistakable voice of Raquel Lúa (Saturday, June 1), the duo from Burgos Fetén Fetén (Friday, June 7) -who will be preceded by a performance from the Palestinian dance group Jafra-, the tunes of Algerian singer Neila Benbey (Saturday, June 8) and Madrid’s urban artist Delarue (Saturday, June 15).

In addition to the performances held in Casa Árabe’s garden, during the days of the Fair, the institution will be organizing several book presentations, including “Le Labyrinthe des égarés. L’Occident et ses adversaires,” by Amin Maalouf (Monday, June 3),or “Mediterráneo, motivos para comenzar el viaje” (“Mediterranean: Reasons to start the journey”), by Pilar Sampietro (Friday, June 7).

On Monday, June 10, the seminar “The Thousand and One Nights revisited” will be held, having been organized with the cooperation of the prestigious Emirati institution, the Sheikh Zayed Book Prize. The event will feature presentations by Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Mounira Soliman, translator Salvador Peña, professor Paulo Lemos Horta and Margarita Castells. They will all be providing analysis of this Eastern literature classic from innovative approaches. Closing off the day, there will be a concert by Abeer Nehme, an acclaimed Lebanese singer.  

And rounding off the program, at Casa Árabe’s Balqís Bookstore stand (number 77), in addition to finding authored books and titles with themes involving the Arab world, there will be book signings by authors, including journalist Antonio Pampliega, singer and poet Marwán, and professors Eduardo Manzano, Ignacio Álvarez Ossorio and Gonzalo Fernández Parrilla, in addition to many others.   

All of the information on dates, schedules and entry conditions for the concerts will be available at milyunanochesca.es