His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah inaugurated the 37th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) today. Themed ‘Tale of Letters’, the fair is curated by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) which will be held from October 31st to November 10th at Sharjah Expo Centre.
The opening ceremony will see the honouring of HE Azzeldine Mihoubi, Algeria’s Minister of Culture, who was selected as the Cultural Personality of the Year. Winners of the SIBF Awards, Turjuman Award, and Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature will also be honoured at the opening ceremony.
This edition will be hosting more than 20 million books from 1.6 million titles, 80,000 of which are new titles, and 1,874 publishing houses from 77 countries. The event will be curating 1800 events and featuring 472 guests from around the world with 200 book signing ceremonies for authors from 19 countries.
Japan is the Guest of Honour at this year’s edition in celebration of its cultural and creative achievements. SIBF will be organising more than 100 activities comprising of 13 Japanese authors and creative artists. The attendees of SIBF will include many Arab officials, authors and intellectuals, including Algerian novelist Ahlam Mosteghanemi, whose ‘Memory in the Flesh’ won The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature 1999 and Palestinian novelist and poet Ibrahim Nasrallah, Laureate of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) 2018 for his novel titled ‘The Second War of the Dog’.
A wide-array of international authors, intellectuals, bloggers, and YouTubers will also be attending the event, including award-winning British author Emma Gannon; and physicist Dr Leonard Mlodinow from the United States.
The Social Media Station has curated many activities for lovers of creative arts and modern technology, starting with animated photos, to media campaigns, and ending with the methodology of content creation at social media platforms.
The Children’s Programme offers young visitors several engaging events, theatrical performances, shows and workshops, such as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, the ‘King of Lions’ which is inspired by Disney’s ‘The Lion King’. The Cookery Corner Programme curated 60 events with 16 guests from 11 countries, such as France, India, Australia, Ireland and Morocco.
The 4th edition of the annual Sharjah International Book Fair/ALA Library Conference, which is organised by the SBA in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA). It is held on November 6-8, the event comprises of a series of workshops featuring 400 experts, including librarians from university, school, government, private libraries and the public, with 20 speakers from around the world.
