Amin Abbas

SHARJAH: Consolidating its position as the world’s largest book fair for the second year in a row in terms of buying and selling of copyrights, the 41st Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) drew to a successful close, after receiving 2.17 million readers from 112 countries during the 12-day cultural extravaganza that ran under the theme, ‘Spread the Word.’

Organized by Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), the fair’s visitors comprised 54.2 percent male and 45.8 percent female. Of these, 40.8 percent were in the 16-25 age group while 35.1 percent formed part of the 25-45 age group.

Embodying its vision of building new generations of readers, SIBF 2022 received 218,000 students. For young pupils, the book fair is an important annual cultural destination that provides their libraries with new Arabic and foreign publications, and facilitates the opportunity to meet their favorite writers and cultural personalities, including content creators, artists and social media influencers.

SIBF 2022, which celebrated Italy as the Guest of Honor, hosted a galaxy of authors, sports personalities, intellectuals, artists, popular cinema icons from the Arab region and the Subcontinent, and a host of specialized experts to drive home Sharjah’s cultural campaign to the world, ‘If you’re into something, you’re into books.’

Through a diverse array of activities including music, arts, poetry evenings, and more under its vibrant cultural program, the fair has strengthened and deepened connections between books and every aspect of human life.

The forum halls opened doors for debates and discussions on some of the most prominent issues impacting Arab and world literature and explored challenges of translation, delved into the future of communication, and offered insights on the importance of research, documentation and history. Over the course of 12 days, SIBF hosted more than 200 cultural discussions to enrich and educate the visitors.

The annual book fair, which places publishers at the heart of the cultural event, opened opportunities for professionals in the industry to network, matchmake, and forge partnerships. 26 publishing houses from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, India, UK, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis and UAE, are embarking on a new journey to make inroads in the region and beyond by signing up to avail the support facilities and services at the Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone.

During the fair, Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, directed the allocation of AED 4.5 million to equip the emirate’s libraries with the latest titles from regional and international publishing houses who have a presence at the 41st SIBF.

With more than 38 million impressions, SIBF’s social media accounts reached more than 7 million users globally. More than 18 million individuals viewed videos created for the 41st edition while the hashtag ‘#SIBF22’ created 78 million impressions. In addition, there were 8,400 individual posts from the public and media that used the hashtag in Arabic and English.

Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, Chairman of SBA, said: “Curtains came down on the 41st Sharjah International Book Fair with over 2.17 million visitors. These are not mere visitors but ambassadors who carry forward the message and vision of SBA, and the emirate’s cultural project that was founded five decades ago by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, which has grown and borne fruit, the latest of which is the recognition as the world’s largest book fair for the second year in a row.”

The SBA Chairman added: “One of the core goals of the book fair is to raise awareness on the importance of reading, and build communities that believe in the value and impact of books. We have achieved this goal to a large extent. Our goal is to transcend the idea that reading is an activity for intellectuals only. At SBA, we believe that reading is for all segments of the community whose interests span across varied fields like music, cinema, sports, architecture, fashion, or any other. This was reflected in the diversity of SIBF guests in the 41st edition whose relationship with books was evident during their participation at the event.”

Khoula Al Mujaini, General Coordinator of SIBF, said: “SIBF vibrant agenda of activities in its 41st edition offered a comprehensive experience that attracted visitors and distinguished artists, sportsmen and authors from all around the world. The high footfall is a clear indicator of the status and importance of the international book fair in meeting the demands of its guests, regardless of age and nationalities.”

This year, SIBF 2022 hosted 2,213 publishers, comprising 1,298 from the Arab region and 915 from around the world. Under the book fair’s cultural programme this year, SIBF hosted 150 distinguished authors, intellectuals and creatives who led 1,500 activities and sessions including 200 activities encompassing workshops, talks, and seminars.

Abd El Ghani Mohammed from Egyptian Mahrousa Publishing Center said: “We are always pleased to participate at Sharjah International Book Fair and this year we participated at the event with a huge collection of translated books specifically from Japanese literature such as: Barefoot Gen, I Am a Cat (Wagahai wa Neko de Aru) and The Makioka Sisters (Sasameyuki) where we have released two volumes of the series in Arabic & the third volume will be released soon at Cairo book fair.”

“The Japanese & Asian literature has a huge crowd in Egypt & the Middle East overall, we have discovered about it very lately about the huge follow up of these books from many readers in the Middle East. We have managed to do the trail to get books from Asian literature to be translated to Arabic language so that the readers in the Middle East can enjoy reading these books,” he added.

“I think it was a very good participation, during which we were able to get agreements on the rights of some books that we have been seeking to obtain for a while through the Publishers Conference, which I see as one of the most important conferences that take place on the sidelines of the Sharjah International Book Fair, under the sponsorship of H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.”

“In Japanese literature, we have the ‘Barefoot Gen’ series, which is a 10 parts illustrated series that revolves around the world war II and the dropping of the nuclear bomb on Japan through a true story. We also have the first and second parts of ‘Snowflakes’, a social novel. In addition to the ‘I Am Cat’ trilogy by the Japanese writer Nitsume Soseki. We also recently published a collection of short stories, ‘Candles of the Corpse’, by the Japanese writer Fuboku Kozakai, which is one of the horror genres.”

“The Sharjah exhibition is yet one of the most important and largest Arab exhibitions in the region, so we are keen to participate in the Sharjah exhibition every year and communicate with readers to know their impressions of our publication,” he added.

Ayumi Kimba, the director of J-Links Co.,Ltd. said: “We have brought books from Hiroshima city, Japan and to do introduction to the city at SIBF 2022. We had much more people than last year and we are very happy with that.  We enjoyed talking with them and it was really nice to hear about their interests in the books, Hiroshima and Japan.”

A representative of Manga Arabia said about their participation at SIBF: “We were very pleased with our participation in the Sharjah International Book Fair and the special moments we lived with the visitors of our pavilion. We were overwhelmed by their great passion for reading, their appreciation for the arts, and their keen interest in content written in Arabic that varies from young to old readers.”

“In our booth, we featured the ‘Manga Arabia’ magazines, which consist of two comic magazines (manga), one of which targets young people over ten years old, and the other targets young people over fifteen years old. The two magazines present two types of works; Works written and produced by Saudi and Arab artists, and Japanese works translated into Arabic. The two magazines aim to strengthen the role of the Arabic language for the younger generations, as well as to stimulate their imagination and promote their principles. We distributed printed copies of the two magazines in our booth, in addition to offering free applications. In our booth, we also held an interactive activity for the child and his parents during the “Hakawati” section, which provides an interesting interactive narration of Arabic manga stories for young children. In addition to a corner for writing names in Japanese, and souvenirs such as bookmarks and posters with drawings of our characters”.

“We were amazed at the cultural diversity that the exhibition overflowed with where the visitor has an exceptional experience between pages of philosophy, literature and various sciences from around the world. The exhibition also presented enriching and wonderful workshops in various fields, and innovative activities for children based on the involvement of children and parents in a fun interactive atmosphere that enhances their exploration and learning.”