Sharjah: The world of fiction is an escape from harsh reality but it also helps us cope with it, leading novelists said at the Sharjah International Book Fair on Friday night.
Their comments came during a Literature Forum on the Fantasy World: The Magic of Tales … Imagination Development.
New York Times best-selling author Joan Bauer, who writes for young adults, said children’s books not only “helps young adults find their own voice, showing the challenges they have”, but also allows grown-ups to “go back in time” and appreciate what adolescence was really like.
“Mark Twain wrote not just for children to read, but also for adults to understand what curious creatures they were,” Bauer added.
Egyptian “nationalist writer” Dr Mohammad Qandil said as a child he was witness to political disturbances, which shaped his stories.
He explained: “I grew up smelling the tear gas with a sense of rebellion and revolt everywhere, which had an impression on me. The writer talks about his own experience although the imagination saves you from the bitter reality of political disturbances and religious conflict. In every story there is a testimony, an outlet for the difficulties of life.”
Ben Okri, the Booker Prize winning author of The Famished Road, pointed out that finding new approaches or “orientation” to stories was critical to storytelling today, given that we already have a body of work amassed over the centuries.
Okri said: “With stories we gather time as we live it and give it a shape that lives on in dreams of the people. I am a great believer in stories and the age in which they are told, the orientation and inclination, the political element of storytelling is as natural as the mythic and creative angle to me. We can’t shape new stories but we can shape new angles.”
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Physical books ‘not dead’
The traditional paper book has survived the digital age because of its permanence and emotional connection to readers, experts said during the Sharjah International Book Fair.
During a panel session on ‘The Light of the Book’, Dr Latifa Al Najjar, managing director, Dar Al Aalam Al Arabi for Publishing and Distribution, said paper books initially saw a decline in sales when e-books first appeared but sales are pointing upwards again.
She added that physical books are part of culture and as such will endure the digital era.
Moroccan novelist Mubarak Rabi said digital reading is the next step in the evolution of formats and has its advantages, pointing out that multimedia options of e-books bring to life the written text.
The discussion was moderated by Emirati novelist Fat’hia Al Nimr, who said the importance of the book’s content is more important than the mode in which it is presented.
