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Moroccan Minister of Culture Announces Program of Int’l Book and Publishing Fair

Moroccan Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid at the press conference (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Moroccan Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid at the press conference (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Moroccan Minister of Culture Announces Program of Int’l Book and Publishing Fair

Moroccan Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid at the press conference (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Moroccan Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid at the press conference (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Moroccan Minister of Youth, Culture, and Communication Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid announced the program of the 27th edition of the International Book and Publishing Fair (SIEL) in Rabat between June 3 and 12.

The 2021 edition of the event was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s health restrictions.

The event was launched in 1989 at the initiative of the then Minister of Culture, Mohamed bin Issa. It is usually held in Casablanca and hosted by the Office des Foires et Expositions de Casablanca (OFEC), but it was refitted as a field hospital for coronavirus patients.

African literature has been chosen as the guest of honor of this edition, and the fair will discuss its reality and fate. Several African intellectuals will attend the event to discuss African literature and ideology.

The event will be organized on ​​about 20,000 square meters, with the participation of 712 exhibitors representing 40 countries.

Bensaid said the exhibition is held in the heart of Rabat, the cultural capital of Morocco, which constitutes, with its pioneering cultural institutions, the country's cultural hub.

The 27th edition will honor Rabat as the capital of African and Islamic culture.

Over 100,000 books will be on display with more than two million copies.

Literature books account for the most significant percentage of this edition, amounting to 30 percent, followed by social science books with 22 percent, and children’s books with 16 percent, while science books are the least with about two percent.

It will include 111 Moroccan exhibitors, 55 Egyptians, 22 Lebanese, ten Jordanian, and 39 countries participating, with one exhibitor each.

On the sidelines of the exhibition, visitors will meet intellectuals, researchers, writers, and professionals from Morocco and abroad.

The event will award the Ibn Battuta Prize for Travel Literature and the National Reading Award.

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Biggest Piece of Mars on Earth is Going Up for Auction in New York

A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, estimated at $2 - 4 million, is displayed at Sotheby's, in New York, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, part of their Geek Week auction, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, estimated at $2 - 4 million, is displayed at Sotheby's, in New York, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, part of their Geek Week auction, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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Biggest Piece of Mars on Earth is Going Up for Auction in New York

A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, estimated at $2 - 4 million, is displayed at Sotheby's, in New York, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, part of their Geek Week auction, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, estimated at $2 - 4 million, is displayed at Sotheby's, in New York, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, part of their Geek Week auction, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It's the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth.

Sotheby's in New York will be auctioning what's known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton that's more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long, The Associated Press reported.

According to the auction house, the meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike before traveling 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) to Earth, where it crashed into the Sahara. A meteorite hunter found it in Niger in November 2023, Sotheby's says.

The red, brown and gray hunk is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7% of all the Martian material currently on this planet, Sotheby's says. It measures nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by 6 inches (375 millimeters by 279 millimeters by 152 millimeters).

"This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot," Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby's, said in an interview. "So it´s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars."

It is also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth, Sotheby's says.

Hatton said a small piece of the red planet remnant was removed and sent to a specialized lab that confirmed it is from Mars. It was compared with the distinct chemical composition of Martian meteorites discovered during the Viking space probe that landed on Mars in 1976, she said.

The examination found that it is an "olivine-microgabbroic shergottite," a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby's says.

It also has a glassy surface, likely due to the high heat that burned it when it fell through Earth's atmosphere, Hatton said. "So that was their first clue that this wasn't just some big rock on the ground," she said.

The meteorite previously was on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sotheby's did not disclose the owner.

It's not clear exactly when the meteorite hit Earth, but testing shows it probably happened in recent years, Sotheby's said.

The juvenile Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeleton was found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it's ready to exhibit, Sotheby's says.

The skeleton is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago, Sotheby's says. It's auction estimate is $4 million to $6 million.

Ceratosaurus dinosaurs were bipeds with short arms that appear similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but smaller. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, while the Tyrannosaurs rex could be 40 feet (12 meters) long.

The skeleton was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company.

Wednesday's auction is part of Sotheby's Geek Week 2025 and features 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils and gem-quality minerals.