Biggest-ever Sharjah book fair opens today

Over 1.5m books and 500 authors, celebrities and speakers taking part

4 November 2015

Sharjah: A galaxy of books and authors are descending on Wednesday for the annual 11-day Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), which returns this year with a record-breaking 1.5 million titles.

His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah; and Prince Khalid Al Faisal, Adviser to Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and Governor of Makkah Province, will open the 34th edition of SIBF.

Taking place at Expo Centre, the hugely popular annual event last year drew around 5,000,000 visitors and organiser Sharjah Book Authority expects even greater footfall this year.

The fair will see the participation of more than 1,500 publishing houses from 64 countries. Also, SIBF 2015 will host more than 500 writers, literary figures, intellectuals and media persons from around the Arab region and the world.

Wednesday’s opening ceremony will honour the winners of the SIBF 2015 Awards and the winners of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature, as well as the Cultural Personality of the Year.

Prince Khalid, known as the Poet Prince, will be honoured as the Cultural Personality of the Year during the ceremony.

Also taking part in the ceremony will be celebrities such as Egyptian actor Mohammad Sobhy, British broadcaster John McCarthy, Nigerian author Ben Okri, and Indian actor Mohanlal.

On Saturday, Dar Kuttab Publishing House will hold a special event to mark the launch of a new book called 2014 UAE Pioneers. The book illustrates inspiring stories of 43 Emirati pioneers, who were awarded medals by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The launch event will be in Dar Kuttab stand at the fair, in Hall 1, Stand 71 at 7pm.

In total, the fair will feature over 900 events, including the Intellectual Programme, Cultural Café, Kids Programme, Social Networking Platform, and Cooking Corner.

A Comic Pavilion will be featured for the first time at SIBF 2015. Organised in partnership with ComicCave, the largest distributor of comic products in the UAE, the stand will house at least 26 specialised publishing houses.

The book fair will also see the second edition of the joint conference between Sharjah International Book Fair and the American Library Association, with the participation of more than 330 librarians from 18 countries.

Meanwhile, a strong representation from India is also taking part at SIBF, including, writers, actors, chefs, doctors and intellectuals. The line up includes Gurcharan Das, author, commentator and public intellectual whose book India Unbound was described by the Guardian newspaper as a “quiet earthquake”.

Entrepreneur, business leader and best-selling author Subroto Bagchi will be at the fair to talk about the Malayalam version of his book, The Elephant Catchers. An interactive session will be led by Bagchi, who is the co-founder and chairman of Mindtree, one of India’s leading software services companies.

Also, Mohanlal, one of India’s biggest movie stars, will be speaking about his long career on Monday at the fair.

Day 1 Highlights

• 10am: Opening Ceremony and Award Distribution
• 7.15pm-8.15pm: Literature Forum on Writing and Facing the Current Situation, which will discuss the power of positive words in fighting crises. Taking part will be Habib Al Sayegh, Moni Mohsin, John Mcarthy, and Mohammad Gobashi
• 8.30pm-9.30pm: At the Book Forum, a session on the Similarity among Literary Genres will be discussed by Dr Shukri Al Mabkhout, Fatima Sultan Al Mazroui, Huda Barakat and Asma Al Zarouni