Sharjah book fair talked about in 10,000 news items globally

Sharjah: This year’s Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), held in November, got coverage in over 10,000 news items in more than a dozen languages, organiser Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) said on Tuesday.

Hundreds of newspapers, news agencies, radio and television channels from around the world reported on the fair, in languages including French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Russian, Urdu, Spanish, Malayalam, and English. The events of the first-ever hybrid edition of SIBF, which combined a mix of on-ground and virtual events, were widely discussed in the reports.

Across written and multimedia formats, stories of the book fair’s success backed by the emirate’s successful cultural project led by His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, were told by regional and international media houses. The fair is regarded as one of the top three book fairs in the world.

The 39th edition of SIBF was held from November 4 to 14 under the theme ‘The World Reads from Sharjah’, with the participation of 1,024 publishers from 73 nations. The event hosted renowned Arab and international authors and witnessed a physical audience of 382,000 individuals. The book fair also engaged and entertained 63,500 virtual attendees from around the globe on its virtual platform ‘Sharjah Reads’.