Sharjah: The last page turned on the 33rd Sharjah International Book Fair on Saturday after bringing together the publishing world and hundreds of thousands of readers to promote the culture of reading.
The 11-day book fair started on November 5 with an increased participation of 1,256 publishers from 59 countries.
The fair also welcomed literary giants such as The Di Vinci Code author Dan Brown, former Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shashi Tharoor, former Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmad Abu Al Gaith, Egyptian actor Adel Imam and Indian actress Manju Warrier.
A dozen countries were a new addition to this year’s participants, namely, Iceland, Finland, Mexico, Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia, Hungary, New Zealand, Malaysia, Malta, Lithuania and Nigeria.
The book fair discussed important issues in the publishing world, including the changing habits of readers. The two-day library conference, which was organised in collaboration with the American Library Association, emphasised the importance of going digital, especially for rare documents such as handwritten scripts.
Renowned Indian media personality Sashi Kumar underscored this fact in his session on Friday just before the book fair drew to a close.
“Digitise or perish. The excitement of the times ahead is in the various layers of experience made possible by technology,” Kumar said.
Kumar said communications paradigms are experiencing great shifts which the publishing world should consider.
“In the digital world, a linear process of understanding the world is replaced by simultaneous messages,” he said, adding that however cluttered pieces of information are on a TV screen, for example, viewers now have the ability to select and analyse information important to them.
Change and adaptability were also the main points discussed in Chetan Bhagat’s session on Friday. The influential Indian author highlighted the importance of these two to connect the publishers and authors with their customers.
Formerly an investment banker, Bhagat reinvented himself as an author in 2004 when he wrote his first book called Five Point Someone. The book became phenomenally popular, selling over 700,000 copies worldwide. It was later used in a Bollywood film adaption.
Since then, Chetan has written seven other books and also writes as a columnist and screenwriter and has a huge following all over the world. The New York Times has cited him as the best-selling English language novelist in India’s history.
Bhagat said that most authors have a formula at the beginning of their careers based on getting awards. He thinks that this method can prove to be shortsighted and limiting.
Bhagat said that there’s nothing wrong with being different, just like how he started. Back then, he did not care about fame or appraisal and the factor that inspired him the most was being a catalyst for change.
His formula was completely different from other authors in that he saw social media platforms as a perfect avenue to connect with the people around him, including his readers, making him a more accessible and relatable figure.
