Guts, dreams and a mother's prayers: Booksellers narrate success stories in Sharjah

Professionals from publishing world meet at first International Booksellers Conference in Sharjah

We had guts, dreams, and our mother’s prayers, but what we didn’t have was a warehouse, inventory or a business plan,” Egyptian bookseller Nadia Wassef. said at the International Booksellers Conference in Sharjah, while recollecting the unconventional beginnings of popular bookstore chain Diwan.

A bookstore with a café at its heart on the banks of the Nile river, Diwan with books in Arabic, English, German and French, grew fast, opening 10 outlets across Cairo run by a strong workforce of 150 employees. “We were a commercial space where we didn’t practice commerce,” noted Wassef narrating how Diwan survived the global pandemic.

The second and concluding day of the debut edition of the world’s first International Booksellers Conference organised in Sharjah, opened with the inspiring story of the brave and passionate bookseller from Cairo, who set up shop with her sister and a dear friend.

During the event organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) on the sidelines of the ongoing 13th Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), the owner and co-founder of Diwan, a pioneering chain of modern bookstores in Egypt, told the 385 booksellers and publishing professionals in the audience that the main reason behind the success of Diwan is because the bookstore was raised and developed like a living entity with a unique identity and personality of its own.

“While determination, experimentation and resilience helped us, what was critical to our survival was the unique identity Diwan had created in its 20 years of existence,” noted Nadia, strongly emphasising to the audience that “as booksellers, we need to know who we are and what we stand for because if no one knows who you are and what you represent, then you will not be able to capture the customer’s attention.”

How booksellers can build solid partnerships with publishers, authors, festivals and schools?

Continuing with its overarching theme of exploring ways to streamline industry efforts to advance the book business ecosystem regionally and globally, one of the discussions witnessed a diversity of publishing ecosystem players from India, Nigeria and Georgia sharing insights on how they support booksellers.

Tina Mamulashvili, managing director of Tblisi-based Bakur Sulakauri Publishing, who also runs close to 10 bookstores in Georgia, noted: “Booksellers are our biggest customers. We support bookstores by publishing special newsletters, marketing materials like bookmarks and shopping bags; we prepare the displays for our new launches sometimes and even design bookstore windows”.