UAE: Bodour Al Qasimi and CEO of largest trade book publisher call for cooperation, solidarity in industry

Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), and Markus Dohle, CEO of the largest trade book publisher, Random House, shared their expert visions of the future of the publishing industry at an exciting fireside chat on Day 3 of the 12th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) Publishers Conference.

Organised by Sharjah Book Authority, the annual conference at Expo Centre Sharjah brought together two of the best-known leadership figures in the publishing world to engage in a wide-ranging conversation on key industry themes such as the changing market landscape, as well as managing thorough industry challenges such as digital transformation, the freedom to publish, and representation and inclusion, amongst others.

Collaborative approach to fortify global publishing

In the presence of industry stakeholders and thought leaders, Bodour Al Qasimi, who, during her IPA presidency, has helped sustainably level up global publishing and empower its stakeholders, outlined the unprecedented success of IPA’s InSPIRE initiative in improving cooperation across the publishing spectrum in the post-pandemic era.

Describing IPA’s efforts to bring gender equality in the world of publishing, Al Qasimi said: “When I became Vice President in 2019, the IPA had until then only one female President since its founding in 1896. I felt a sense of responsibility to open the door forother women in the industry to create equal opportunities and support growth and sustainability in the international publishing sector.”

The IPA President, who has led a number of diversity initiatives in the sector, revealed that PublisHer, a rapidly growing platform, was part of an industry-led movement aimed at empowering female industry stakeholders and bridging the gender gaps in an industry predominantly led by women.

During the conversation, Bodour Al Qasimi, a long-time champion of the region's publishing industry who has spearheaded efforts to promote and develop its presence in the UAE and the wider Arab region, said she hoped to see the expansion of operations of Penguin Random House into one of the most promising of the emerging publishing regions.

‘Creating the future of books and reading begins in the home’

Expressing his confidence in the evolving Arab publishing market, Markus Dohle, CEO of Random House, asserted that his presence at the 12th SIBF Publishers Conference was “the starting point of establishing relationships and identifying opportunities with stakeholders in the region’s publishing industry.

“We see the potential for a significant publishing operation here in the future,” he said.

Al Qasimi opened the conversation with a discussion on the pandemic-induced challenges in the publishing industry. In response, Dohle described how global markets with a well-functioning e-commerce infrastructure could prove their resilience and agility during this period of volatility.

He said: “E-commerce is a driver of efficiency and convenience and has levelled the playing field between large and small publishers but surprisingly, it is the strength of the physical format that has prevailed and stabilised the entire ecosystem for books.”

Dohle added: “The US, for instance, witnessed a record 20 per cent growth during the two years of the pandemic - a growth driven surprisingly by the physical format, while Brazilis a good example of how a strong e-commerce infrastructure that penetrates a large territory and complex distribution network can yield solid growth numbers.”

• UAE: SIBF 2022 opens tomorrow; 2,213 publishers from 95 nations to showcase over 1.5 million titles