Sharjah: The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO), will be the guest of honour at the Sharjah International Book Fair this year.
The announcement was made during a press conference held on Wednesday that disclosed details of the fair’s 33rd edition.
The fair, which will witness the participation of 1,256 publishers from 59 countries, will take place from November 5 to 15, at the Sharjah Expo Centre.
Coinciding with the celebration of Sharjah as Capital of Islamic Culture, ISESCO was chosen as guest of honour in appreciation of its pioneering role in spreading the values and culture of Islam on the international stage.
Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Owais, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah, said at the conference that the Director-General of ISESCO, Dr Abdul Aziz Bin Othman Al Tuwaijri, was also selected as this year’s Cultural Figure.
Al Owais said Al Tuwaijri was selected in appreciation of his achievements and intellectual contributions to the Arab and Islamic world.
Ahmad Bin Rakkad Al Ameri, SIBF Director, spoke about this year’s participation.
He said this year’s efforts succeeded in adding 12 new countries to the list of participating countries — Iceland, Finland, Mexico, Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia, Hungary, New Zealand, Malaysia, Malta, Lithuania and Nigeria.
In terms of numbers of participating publishers, Al Ameri said the the UAE occupies the top rank with 141 publishers, followed by Egypt with 140 publishers, Lebanon with 105, Russia 75, Syria with 68, India with 56, and Jordan with 51 publishers. In foreign countries, the UK comes first with 51 publishers, followed by the US with 27, and Italy with 13. The total number of titles on display in the fair will exceed 1.4 million in various domains.
“The fair made around Dh40 million in book sales last year and we expect to exceed that this year because we have more book titles and publishers,” said Al Ameri.
In terms of activities, Al Ameri said the fair will witness 780 events, including an intellectual programme, children’s activities, the cooking corner, a social media platform.
Among the noteworthy international and Arabic figures are The Di Vinci Code author Dan Brown, former Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmad Abu Al Gaith, renowned actor Adel Imam, former Pakistan Ambassador to the USA Hussain Haqqani and former Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shashi Tharoor, to name a few.
The fair will invite these writers to over 50 schools in Sharjah and Dubai, aiming at promoting a love of writing among children, and exposing them to the authors of their favourite books.
Al Ameri said there will be a special focus on children this year with a number of performances, workshops, and awareness seminars that combine entertainment and education.
One of the highlights of this year’s edition will be the joint conference between the fair and the American Library Association, which will be held for the first time in the region from November 11 to 13. The conference and its parallel workshops will tackle issues relevant to librarians in public, academic, schools, government, and private libraries, with a number of international and local experts taking the stand.
The fourth edition of the parallel Professional Programme will be launched prior to the fair itself in the presence of Richard Charkin, incoming president of International Publishers Association, with workshops and bulletins aiming to enhance publishers’ skills and exchanging experience and knowledge. This year, the fair will host international actor and author Stephen Fry, who will launch his ‘digital storytelling project for everyone’ project, YourFry.
