Sharjah: Man Booker and PEN prize winners are among a raft of published writers who will be holding panel discussions and workshops open to all visitors at this year’s Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) taking place from November 4-14 at the Expo Centre.
Sharjah International Book Fair is one of the largest book fairs in the world and the most prestigious in the Arab world.
Man Booker prize winner Ben Okri, a Nigerian writer and poet who won accolades for his novel The Famished Road, will take part in a panel discussion titled ‘The magic of storytelling: exploring the imagination’. Okri’s work has been translated into 26 languages and won numerous international prizes, including the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for Africa. His most recent work, The Age of Magic, will be one of the topics covered in this session which also seeks to answer age-old questions on the craft of story-telling.
Anisul Hoque, award-winning novelist and playwright from Bangladesh and author of more than 80 books and Arun Budhathoki, poet and short fiction writer from Nepal, also known as Daniel Song, are some of the other participants in this year’s event.
Those interested in turning their secret dreams of novel writing into a reality can take part in an event with Rehan Khan, novelist, business writer and lecturer in Dubai, who turns business people into writers.
Khan’s session will answer questions such as why do successful academics and businessmen decide to become novelists, can your previous business experience have any influence on your creative writing, and offers advice for other businessmen who feel the urge to write a novel.
Other events to look out for include ‘Everything you need to know about Minecraft’ with Alex Wiltshire.
