Local Bookstore Al Microphone Is Making Reading Accessible & Communal

In 2015, two friends, Amr Ahmed and Ahmed Yassin Youssef, organised an event titled ‘Kotob B Balash’ (‘Books for Free’) at their university. It was a shot in the dark; they didn’t really envision crowds upon crowds of people queuing up to look at books - but that’s exactly what happened. At this first event, nearly 5,000 people attended, sifting through bookshelves for a unique find. At the time, the friends wondered, “Wow, people still read?”

“The idea came by pure coincidence. We never intended to start a business, we just organised an event. Its success is what created an urge for a stable space and identity,” Amr Ahmed, one of Al Microphone’s co-founders, tells CairoScene.

Upon uncovering this well-kept secret, of a quiet crowd of readers hungry for more, the founders decided to do whatever they could to make reading as convenient, both financially and otherwise, as can be for the demographic they suddenly acquired. They founded Al Microphone, a bookshop dedicated to facilitating reading for everyone in the country, at affordable prices and through interesting events. This is where Al Microphone got its name, “We’re called Al Microphone simply because we want to reach as many people as possible,” Ahmed says.“We have to be as loud as possible.”

Al Microphone may be a bookshop, but it is adamant on being more than just that. “We’re not book sellers,” Ahmed says. “We want to create an experience for readers, one that eventually encourages more people to read.” To get their voice across, as loudly as they can, Al Microphone regularly organises events for readers, creating a community of readers across Cairo and Alexandria, where their branches exist currently. The events consist primarily of discounted book fairs, but also extend to book signings, book exchanges and, once, a 12-hour reading camp.

In the beginning, things were easy for the founders of Al Microphone. “Watching your dream realise itself through the work you do, to me, is easy,” Ahmed recalls. “But the challenge lies in continuity - in finding answers to questions we ask ourselves like, ‘Where do we get books?’ and ‘How cheap can we sell our books for?’” To Al Microphone, the struggle lies in maintaining a business model where the book comes before anything else, even their own livelihoods.

While books reach unapproachable prices in other stores, Al Microphone’s team tries to keep their book prices well within reach, reiterating their mission of making reading available to everyone. In ‘’Ard El Maganeen’, Al Microphone’s prices range from EGP 10 to EGP 100. They also offer discounted prices, from 15-40% off, on books published by publishers they’re working with. “As a business, Al Microphone isn’t very profitable. We’re more driven by passion - a genuine love for books. Al Microphone gives our lives meaning.”

The bookshop started sourcing their books from used bookshops in Al Azbakeya and Sayeda Zeinab, to ensure what they sold was affordable enough for readers. Then, they began having partnerships with local publishing houses, enabling them to showcase a selection of the contemporary books their reading community wants. “Every month, we ask readers on our social media what they would like to see in the shop. This helps us provide them with what they need, as well as get a general idea of what the trends in readership look like on a monthly basis.”

Thanks to Al Microphone, the traditional definition of what a bookshop or a library should be has been broken. The shop argues that maybe reading doesn’t have to be a solitary pursuit after all; the process of seeking out books, reading them and discussing them is perhaps made more meaningful when it exists within a community. Their efforts are more geared towards a younger audience, which is why their first branch, in Dokki, was situated as close as possible to Cairo University.

“We thought it best to target youth because of the initial success in our first event at the university,” Ahmed says. “But when we opened, our clientele encompassed a wide range of ages.”

In fact, one of the moments that the Al Microphone team holds dear is when an old woman walked into their bookstore, looking for her next read. An employee asked her if she was looking for something for her grandkids, but she had other plans, “I’m buying these books for myself, son. I’ll keep reading until I die.”

Another situation proved the shop’s success in targeting a young audience: when Al Microphone asked its audience to give them feedback on the shop’s performance, a number of 17-year-olds expressed that they still read today thanks to the first book they bought from Al Microphone, back when they were maybe eight or nine years old.

“We’ve made our way into three-fourths of Egyptian readers’ homes,” Ahmed says. “In the long run, we aim to be at least part of the reason more people find their love for books - it feels like a social responsibility.”