Sharjah: The hugely popular annual Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) returns on November 4, with a record-breaking 1.5 million titles on display.
The 11-day fair is also “guaranteed” to beat its previous visitor count of 1.47 million people, said SIBF Director Ahmad Al Ameri, who is also the chairman of Sharjah Book Authority, which organises SIBF.
The fair, now in its 34th edition, is held at the Expo Centre Sharjah every year. Entry to the venue is free.
This year, the fair will commemorate the UAE soldiers martyred in the line of duty in Yemen, Al Ameri said. Details will be revealed at SIBF, he added.
For the latest edition, SIBF foreign guests include Man Booker prize winner Ben Okri, a Nigerian writer and poet who won the accolade for his novel The Famished Road; Indian writer and management guru Gurcharan Das; Indian actor Mohanlal; and Pakistani poet and writer Fatima Bhutto, among others. Daren Shah, the author of best-sellers in Ireland, and British author John McCarthy are also visiting.
From the Arab region, the guest list includes Qatari writer and actor Wedad Al Kuwari, Egyptian poet Faruq Shousha and Bahraini playwright and critic Dr Ibrahim Ghloum.
There will also be 50 Emirati and Arab speakers addressing 33 seminars as part of the Cultural Café parallel event under SIBF.
For the first time at SIBF, a comics stand has been set up in collaboration with ComicCave, the largest distributor of comic products in the UAE. The stand will see participation from 26 specialised publishing houses.
The fair will also see the participation of 13 exhibitors in the joint conference with the American Library Association, featuring 255 librarians.
Other mainstream publishers include 1,502 publishing houses from 64 countries, with books available in 210 languages.
Prices of books will be “strictly controlled,, Al Ameri told a press conference on Monday announcing the fair. However, publishers’ costs have also been taken into account, he added.
Returning this year is the Cooking Corner, featuring chefs who are also authors of cookbooks.
For children, the Kids Programme will include theatrical performances, circus performances, storytelling and reading sessions, puppet theatre, scientific and mathematical workshops and book signing.
