Mad about the write stuff

Dubai: In 1440, Johann Gutenberg, a German, invented something that changed the face of literature forever - the printing press. Despite the initial high cost of publishing a book and the fear that printing large volumes would hinder literature rather than help it, his invention single-handedly brought reading to the masses.

Then 500 years later, the internet came along to shake things up. Information, loads of it, was available at the click of a button - a phenomenon largely blamed for the rapid decline in the book-reading habit. But if books have survived the online onslaught, it's thanks to American author Michael Hart, a visionary and dubbed the second Gutenberg, who foresaw all of this and, in 1971, started digitising books - yes, that was when the first e-book was created.

In the 40 years since, the e-book has come a long way from being a few painstakingly typed files to being touted as the future of reading.

This is evidenced in the recent figures announced by global publishing house Bloomsbury in its 2011 interim report - its e-book sales trailed print books by only 10 per cent and the total e-book sales experienced an 18-fold rise from 2009 to 2010.

PRINT POWER

But despite the worldwide rising popularity of e-books, some in Dubai still can't forego their love of the printed word. High school students Aditi Srinivas and Amala Krishnan are among those who still enjoy picking up a book.

The Ayn Rand fans are voracious readers and, despite their generation's penchant for technology, they don't see themselves making the shift to e-books any time soon.

"I find print books so much easier to read, less strain on the eye," says Amala. "It's easier to find most books in print; I can't be bothered to search for them in their electronic form."

Aditi agrees: "I read books online on Questia [online library], but only because we have to for history assignments."

The teenagers seem to be good news for bookshop owners such as Mike McGinley, owner of the House of Prose. While he admits to seeing a small decline in reading over the years, "it is not as much as you might think. Reading books is something you acquire usually at a young age, and when you love books, you find the time for them".

LOYAL CLIENTELE

His bookshop, a Dubai institution where you purchase second-hand books and get half your money back if you return them in good condition, has a loyal client base. "About half the books I sell are returned for other books," he says, aware that cheaper prices of his books mean he has an edge over the e-book market.

But the same rosy picture can't be painted about other bookstores, local and as well as international. With major local chains like Magrudy's closing some stores and Borders' international outlets filing for bankruptcy, the print seems headed for a dead end and along with it the print reading habit.

Speaking of the business aspect, American author Lionel Shriver (We Need to Talk about Kevin) thinks traditional bookshops should be worried by the rise of e-books. But on a personal level, she told XPRESS, "I don't expect digital technology to change the nature of my novels, but that's because I'm a stick-in-the-mud."

She accepts, however, that "younger writers may find new multimedia forms that take the novel to a whole new level".

Fair role

So given this backdrop, the question is what role can a literature festival play in reviving reading?

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (EAFL), which kicked off in Dubai on March 8 and will run until March 12, is the largest celebration of the written and spoken word in the Middle East, and this year is attracting literary heavyweights such as Python Michael Palin, Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka and children's author Eoin Colfer, among others.

"It is a community event, crossing cultures. Everyone understands the importance of the written word," says Isobel Abulhoul, the Festival Director.

A survey carried out after the 2010 edition revealed that 75 per cent of visitors were more likely to pick up a book after visiting the festival.

This is a sentiment echoed by Judith Caesar, professor of English at the American University of Sharjah. "I think it [the festival] is very important. Most will have never actually heard a writer speak before, and it's always a pleasant shock to realise that books are written by actual, thoughtful, intelligent human beings, not some alien species that live only between the pages of books," she told XPRESS.

Apart from sessions with leading authors, the EAFL offers a range of workshops in subjects such as writing, publishing, illustration, drama, journalism, poetry performance, etc. Master calligraphers are also offering classes for all age groups throughout the festival. The popular Fringe events are back again this year. Held concurrently with the main festival, visitors can expect to see adults and children of Dubai doing everything from performing a rewritten version of Macbeth to rendering American songs from the 1920s. How's that?

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Note: For the complete list of authors participating in the festival, author sessions, tickets, workshops and competitions, go to www.emirateslitfest.com

The writer is an intern at XPRESS