SIBF 2022: Experience Italy with cooking sessions, folk music, theatre shows at Sharjah fair

UAE residents are spoiled for choice for a taste of Italy, both culturally and gastronomically, at the 41st edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair. Notable authors, publishing houses and chefs will be taking part this year which sees Italy as the guest of honour for the first time in the history of the fair.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Amedeo Scarpa, Italian Trade Commissioner to the UAE and the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) Dubai Director said that through literature and culture the fair enables a strong, heartfelt and empathic dialogue between cultures which can also be transformed into business opportunities such as collaboration between publishing houses.

Every year Italian publishers sell around 400 titles to Arab countries, with children’s and young adult books getting the highest interest. Amedeo said that the fair is preceded by a publisher conference which is one of the most important publishing events in the world – this is where copyrights are exchanged. “This is why the Italian Trade Agency invited 12 important Italian publishing houses to bring their publications here,” he said adding that their offerings are vast and variant including fiction, non-fiction, the classics and a focus on children’s books.

“A few years ago, the Sharjah International Book Fair was the guest of honor in the Turn International Book Salon and was a guest of honour in the Bologna Children’s Book Fair – the two most important book fairs in Italy – and we are very happy to be here,” said Amedeo.

Amedeo sees a direct link between cultural events like the book fair and the trade. “The fair is a cultural exchange – a seed of cooperation and collaboration that revolves around the values of Italy and the Gulf,” he said.

In addition to the business opportunities, the Italian participation in the fair includes a varied and entertaining cultural program which is curated by the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi.

“Our challenge was to organize a program that is interesting and would impress the public. We have invited 17 writers and we the program includes four children’s workshops, two musical concerts, two theatre shows, two roaming shows and one exhibition,” said Ida Zilio-Grandi, Director of Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi.

She said that in coordination with the Italian Publishers Association they selected authors that represented the vast and varied nature of the Italian publishing industry.

The program includes a talk by the Director of the Egyptian Museum in Torino, Christian Greco, who will talk about using technology to make archeology more accessible to young digital natives.

“The Institute’s mission is to create bridges between Italy and the host countries and in this case the Arab culture so we also have sessions that combine experts from both Italy and the Arab world,” said Ida.

Other notable speakers include Francesca Maria Corrao, a professor of contemporary Arabic literature who will talk about Islamic civilization in the west and Claudia Tresso who has been awarded for her translation of Rihla – on the voyages of the traveler Ibn Battuta.

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