Sharjah to promote Arab publishers

 The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) is taking steps to harness and strengthen the skills of Arab publishers in cooperation with international leaders in publishing industry, said the chief of the authority.
Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Amiri, Chairman of Sharjah Book Authority, said systematic training process and specialised education programmes given by the experts in this field would help Arab publishers overcome the challenges being faced. He was speaking on the sidelines of the London Book Fair.
Al Amiri stressed the importance of the UK for the publishing market in the UAE, as it houses most of the international publishing houses specialised in education books.
"Most books in English come from the UK, and it is the strategic partner of the UAE in terms of publications and books", he said.
This authority's participation in the London Book Fair for last ten years has enriched the British presence in the Sharjah International Book Fair.
"Ten years ago, the participation was confined to one or two British publishing houses, while last year, the number was more than 150."
As part of its international cooperation strategy, the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) signed a joint cooperation agreement with New York university School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS), under which the latter will offer a specialised education programme to the Arab publishers, focusing on the most important topics related to the publishing industry," he said.
The programme scheduled to be held on the October 30 is designed to familiarise the Arab publishers on the different publishing methods and the best international practices.
The authority had also signed a cooperation agreement with the online portal 'Publishers Weekly', which is specialised in publishing bestsellers, on distribution and sale of books, and on bringing out Publishers Weekly magazine in Arabic.
Another agreement is with the British Library, with the aim of exchanging expertise in archiving and bibliography," he said, noting the agreement will boost the cultural exchange between UAE and the British Library through holding joint exhibitions, where the UAE manuscripts will go on display in the library in exchange of showcasing the British manuscripts in Sharjah libraries. The agreement also calls for organising cultural weeks for the Emirati literati in London and their British counterparts in Sharjah.
He said the Sharjah book fair is expected to see a strong presence of thinkers and writers from around the world in November this year, along with new participating nations."
However, Al Amiri said the number of digital books registered a drop recently as major publishing houses are reluctant to produce it due to lesser profits.
"The special thing about the printed book is that you see it, touch it and go through it", he noted.
The chairman of Sharjah Book Authority emphasised that the books at the Sharjah International Book Fair are not subjected to any kind of censorship. "In this regard, we are following the words of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who said: "We fight the dark thoughts with the enlightened thought. When we move to ban some thoughts, the masses will rush to search for them and we don't want that to happen."
The only control or censorship is on prices, as Dr Shaikh Sultan has ordered not to hike them. And most importantly, the Arab publishers could get the experience by keeping in touch with the foreign counterpart, besides setting up an excellent base for making the books available at an affordable price," he said.
"Bookings for the next edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair has already reached as high as 80 per cent, and a number of British Publishing Houses have signed up for the exhibition at the London Book Fair," he said and expected over 1,500 publishing houses would take part in the next edition against 1,360 last year, which drew as many as 1.5 million visitors.
"The Sharjah Book Authority works in cooperation with the Sharjah Expo on setting and arranging additional places to accommodate the number of exhibitors whose number is increasing year after another," he said adding the authority has been granting spaces for the publishing houses according to their new publications over the last two years.
"The presence of foreign publishers and books has grown up to 48 per cent, and these include books from Russia, Africa, India, the Philippines and more," he added.
"The Sharjah international Book Fair made sales worth more than $40 million last year and net profits accounted for Dh20 million, in addition to indirect revenue such as that on hotel occupancy, airline bookings and marketing," he said.
Stating that the Sharjah book fair is one of the three most important book fairs in the world, Al Amiri said it is different from all other book fairs in the Arab region.
"Arab book fairs are self-serving and market the Arab book."
He claimed that the free zone for publishers, announced by Sharjah last year, will be a new platform at the international level.
On the contribution of the authority towards the Year of Reading, he said since the launching of the Sharjah International Book Fair in 1982, the emirate has been taking steps to encourage reading.
"The authority continuously organises poetry and literary gala nights inside and outside the country throughout the year, and it is the only entity which has a government club for reading. For Sharjah, promotion of reading is not just an year's matter. When the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, made the call to mark 2016 as the Year of Reading, it is not limited for one year, but for the generations to come," said Al Amiri.
malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com