UAE | General
French book lovers get a place to browse and buy
French books are coming into Dubai by the tonne every month and filling the void francophone expatriates were feeling for a lack of the French written word.
- By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 June 16, 2007
- Located in the API Tower on Shaikh Zayed Road, Culture & Co is open from 9am to 7pm from Saturday to Thursday.
- Image Credit: Vazhisojan/Gulf News
Dubai: French books are coming into Dubai by the tonne every month and filling the void francophone expatriates were feeling for a lack of the French written word.
Only 50 French bookshops have been set up worldwide and one of them, which is up and running on Shaikh Zayed Road, recently celebrated its first birthday in Dubai.
Culture & Co opened its doors last April and caters to the growing number of French speakers in the country.
Real need
"There are about 10,000 French people and 100,000 French speakers which include North Africans, Canadians, and French speaking Arabs in the UAE," said Renata Sader, Culture & Co founder.
"Before you could get French books in some supermarkets or multimedia stores but not a very broad selection. I felt there was a real need to open up a French bookstore. It was never a childhood dream for me to start a book store but when I realised there was a demand I did a course in France," said Sader.
A resident in Dubai for seven years, Sader was previously in Jordan. Her training is in languages and she speaks five of them, qualifying herself as a translator.
Culture & Co stocks around 10,000 titles including children's books, educational books, books with accompanying CDs, fiction books, specialised books on art, cookery, gardening, as well as contemporary books on geopolitical issues.
The store not only stocks books in French written by French authors but translations of books by authors of many different nationalities.
"I read a lot of literature, especially foreign literature. My favourite author at the moment is a Hungarian writer called Agota Kristof. She's written a trilogy I recently discovered which is very dark but very well written," said Sader.
Share this article
Popular in UAE
-
Your pictures
Readers' pictures
A Selection of the best Gulf News reader pictures this week
Latest news
- Teacher jailed for indecent behaviour
- Building the blocks of education, step by step
- Forum seeks more reforms to human trafficking law
- Crackdown urged on drink driving
- Disability is no handicap for this Emirati
- UAE Residency department to offer quicker service
- UAE maintains economic status on global stage
- Shaikh Khalifa revamps security council
- Exhibition to showcase UAE art in New York
- Police officer injured during raid on brothels
- Waiters tamper with orders, cheat customers
- Lebanese expats celebrate independence day
- Gulf News wins international design awards
- Queen praises UAE's role
- Sharjah intensifies food inspections for Eid
Community Reports
-
Noise pollution must be regulated
Residents are finding it difficult to sleep well at night owing to ongoing construction work
-
Protect our children's health
Dust and dirt from a nearby road are causing problems to those frequenting Al Nasseriya park, Sharjah.
-
Keeping out curious cats in Abu Dhabi
Felines trapped in electrical substations create a nuisance
-
Construction site turned into dump
Sharjah residents using abandoned spot to dispose of waste
