Sharjah: Publishers participating in the 30th Sharjah International Book Fair said that the fight to raise the popularity of Arab novels is an uphill battle as it repeatedly fails to make a presence on the international literacy scene.
Despite 884 publishing houses and 260,000 book titles available at the book fair, which runs until November 26, publishers were sceptical as to how successful Arab novelists can be in the international arena due to the clash of interests between the two.
As a general manager of Al Naya publishing house from Syria, Safi Adain, pointed out that the majority of Arab authors prefer to write about philosophy, politics and short stories, which is opposite of what the international literary scene demands.
"The international scene generally tends to focus on novels and this genre is not covered by Arab authors because I think they do not understand the importance that novels have. Globally, the demand is for fiction books that have a clear plot with in-depth characters, but there is not enough of these kinds of novels in the Arab world," Adain said.
Raida Idriss, co-owner of Dar Al Adab publishing house in Lebanon, emphasised that it is ultimately the publisher's responsibility to make a novel succeed since there is not enough government support throughout the Arab world in the field of literature.
"The departments of culture still have a long way to go if they want novels to make it to the international literary scene. I think if a book is strong enough to succeed locally, and if the publisher has faith and trust in the author, then the message of the novel can reach many places," said Idriss, who pointed out that authors such as Palestinian Sahar Khalifeh had her books translated into many languages.
"There are very few Arab writers and if we want more talent, then the state should play a larger role in offering them with more facilities and more opportunities to have their works exposed. Arab writers are not popular with the concept of having a few strong characters in a novel, and the way the book is written is not the same as in the West," said Mohammad Radi, Head of Media Committee, Egyptian Publishers Association.
Khaled Deaibes, a representative of the Centre for Arab Unity Studies in Lebanon, agreed that state departments need to be more involved with authors.
Today's events
- A Lecture — The Makassedi Term Element at 6-7pm in the External Hall, Expo Centre Sharjah. Dr Mohammad Kamaluddin will be participating and Majed Bu Shleby will chair the lecture.
- Meet the Author at 6.30-7.30pm in the Conference Hall, Expo Centre Sharjah. Shobhaa De in attendance.
- The Changing Facets of Arab Politics, History in the making at 7-8pm in Forum 1, Expo Centre Sharjah. Maha Hassan, Robert Lacey, Ali Maqri in attendance. Turky Al Dakheel to chair the event.
- The Sharjah International Book Fair runs until November 26 at the Sharjah Expo Centre.
