There were 45,000 visitors [last] Friday alone. That makes it 100,000 visitors on the first four days. That's incredible." That was Ahmad Al Amri, director of the Sharjah International Book Fair, speaking to Weekend Review last week.
Now in its 29th year, the fair has become a permanent and much-anticipated fixture in the emirate's cultural calendar, thanks in no small part to the personal involvement of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. "His Highness is supervising everything personally. When he is overseas, he calls me each day to know all the details," said Al Amri.
Dr Shaikh Sultan wants to make more books by UAE and Arab writers available internationally. Speaking on the sidelines of the fair earlier, he said: "I went to the National Museum in London and saw visitors from all nations but did not see a single Arab there. I also saw a lack of presence of Arab writers when I visited the Frankfurt Book Fair and did not find Arab authors. That is when I decided to have 87 book titles translated from Arabic into German."
His latest book, Hadeeth Al Thakerah (A Talk from the Memory), was released at this year's book fair. In that, Dr Shaikh Sultan talks about the history of the country and the roles played by Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum in the formation of the federation. It is full of interesting vignettes which only a person who has had a ringside seat to the events can provide. In the 304 pages, the book offers unique insights into the first six years of the UAE federation.
In 2009, his book Sard Al That was also released at the book fair. The English version, titled My Early Life, was published by Bloomsbury this year. For the first time, major publishers from the United Kingdom, such as HarperCollins, took part in the fair.
"We had publishers from countries such as the US, UK, India, Kuwait and Lebanon. Next year there will be 30 international publishers and 30 well-known authors at the book fair. The best titles in the world are here. Last year's sales were more than Dh120 million. The event is an opportunity to showcase how important the Arab [book] market has become over the years," Al Amri said.
Al Amri said that the organisers' idea is to ensure that the book fair is seen as an international event. "We wanted to make sure that this is an international book fair and not only an Arab one. But at the heart of the fair is Arab culture. This is my second year as director but I have been involved with the event for the past 12 years. This year we introduced many programmes for children. Also, there was a huge increase in the number of cultural events. For instance, in the 2008 edition of the fair, we had ten cultural programmes. This year, we had more than 200. We also provided play areas for children, so that they could enjoy while the parents looked around."
In all, the Sharjah International Book Fair 2010 attracted more than 600 publishers, including 117 from the UAE, 387 from Arab countries and 285 from Asia and the West. Last year, about 110,000 book titles were available. In this year's fair, the number has shot up dramatically to about 200,000, including 45,000 titles in the foreign language section.
