In Sharjah’s Publishers Conference 2023, trade visitors hold one-on-one business meetings for rights trading and networking. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Porter Anderson
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
See also:
UAE: Sharjah Book Authority Approves 303 Translation Grants
Emirati Women’s Day: PubisHer and Visa Present ‘She’s Next’
UAE: Sharjah International Book Fair Opens Its Awards
UAE: Sharjah Signs Morocco as Its International Book Fair Guest of Honor
Strong Showings From Morocco, Other Parts of Africa
While at Frankfurter Buchmesse last week, organizers of the next major book fair on the calendar, the upcoming 43rd Sharjah International Book Fair (November 6 to 17) report holding some 40 high-level meetings with key publishers, booksellers, and industry specialists, at the Sharjah Book Authority stand in Hall 5.1.
Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, CEO of the book authority—which is chaired by the Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, of course—and Mansour Al Hassani, the director of publisher services, tell Publishing Perspectives that the Sharjah Publishers Conference—held immediately before the opening of the book fair—is on track to be the largest yet, with an especially strong showing coming from many parts of the African continent.
“We have our biggest African participation so far” registered to be in Sharjah in November, Al Ameri says, “including 86 publishers and representing 25 countries.” Many in the African delegation are attending the New York University course that precedes the spearheaded conference, facilitated by Andrea Chambers, associate dean at NYU’s School of Professional Studies Center for Publishing and Applied Liberal Arts.
At Frankfurt, the Sharjah team says, meetings and discussions were held with Barefoot Books, Penguin Random House, Supadu, Ingram, Simon & Schuster, Shelf Awareness, the Aegnita Agency, Walker/Candlewick, the Independent Book Publishers Association, HarperCollins, VitalSource, Andrews McMeel, the Spanish Publishers Association, Ulysses Press, Macmillan (USA), Diversion Books, Interlink, Forefront, EPS Learning, the Naggar Agency, Oneworld, Hachette, and Klett-Cotta.
Al Ameri says he’s pleased with this year’s meetings at Frankfurt. ‘We engaged in strategic meetings with key European and other international publishers as part of an intensive agenda to fulfill our mission of strengthening partnerships with cultural hubs; advancing cross-cultural dialogue; and boosting the publishing, translation, and distribution sectors and those who operate within them, fostering a thriving knowledge-based society, and at the same time, highlighting Sharjah’s and the UAE’s roles in advancing the global cultural and publishing landscape.”
While more details of the upcoming 43rd edition of Sharjah International Book Fair—which last year reported 1.2 million attendees—will be reported shortly, once again, the Publishers Conference at Sharjah—programmed by Al Qasimi, Al Ameri, Al Hassani, and the London-based Emma House—will demonstrate the extraordinary international diversity that this particular professional event has come to be known for.
For one thing, as many as 22 publishers will be on-hand from Morocco. As Publishing Perspectives reported in June, that market will host a dominant stand on Sharjah’s huge show floor as guest of honor, when Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi leads the show’s opening events on November 6. And it was interesting to note in September that Sharjah Book Authority has approved 303 translation grants amid a 15-percent jump in applications, reading a record 2,506 this year, which is the 13th in the grants program.
And House’s implementation of her innovative “room of round tables” approach will this year field 30 themed and targeted workshops for conference attendees, even as one-on-one trading sessions are made available to all the attendees, as well.
Programming Points for the Sharjah Publishers Conference
Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024 on the Sharjah Book Authority stand in Hall 5.1. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Porter Anderson
With Latoya West Blackwood serving as emcee, Al Qasimi will give the opening keynote speech on November 3 when the conference opens.
Her PublisHer program, as Publishing Perspectives readers know, had its first North American program in late September, in coordination with NYU’s programming and dovetailing with the conclusion of the 2024 United Nations 79th General Assembly.
Bodour Al Qasimi
At the Publishers Conference in Sharjah, PublisHer will again have its own lounge with specialized programming. This year, in addition, PublisHer will co-present the She’s Next program and appreciation awards with PublisHer’s sponsor Visa, joined by Saeeda Jaffer, Visa’s chief for the Middle Eastern and North African region (MENA).
On November 3, the keynote presentation will come from Chantal Restivo-Alessi, chief digital officer and CEO of international language operations with HarperCollins.
Chantal Restivo-Alessi
Restivo-Alessi, in conversation onstage with Publishing Perspectives, will assess the challenges of professionals in international publishing today, including market-to-market commonalities and differences; consumer trends across frontiers; trends in genre, retail, and formats in today’s markets; growth opportunities on the world stage, including audio; and the role of publishers and the implications that arise from those roles.
John Ingram
John Ingram, chair of Ingram Content Group and a Sharjah Book Authority board member, will also give a keynote, following one set of round table discussions and lunch.
As our readers know, Ingram has placed a major Lightning Source installation at Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone, directed by Mansour Al Hassani, and many delegates will be getting a tour of that facility later in the conference schedule.
Publishing Perspectives will have information on many of the round-table workshops’ leaders and topics in upcoming coverage.
At Frankfurt last week, the Sharjah team included Al Qasimi Productions; the Sharjah Department of Culture; the Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone; Sharjah Literary Agency, the Sharjah Translation Award (Turjuman); Kalimat Group; and the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature.
More from Publishing Perspectives on international book fairs and trade shows is here, more on Sharjah Book Authority and its programs is here, and more on the Sharjah International Book Fair is here.
Our 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair Magazine is now available in a digital edition here.
Download your copy here.
You’ll also read our focused coverage of issues and events in the Guest of Honor Italy program; book market trends in Brazil, France, the Philippines, the Czech Republic, and Poland; perspectives on the international rights trade from Matthes & Seitz Berlin’s Meran Mentzel; commentary from independent publishers from Greece, Colombia, and Kenya.
PEN International president emerita Jennifer Clement speaks to Publishing Perspectives on censorship ahead of the IPA’s International Publishers Congress (December 3-5); there’s an exit interview with the outgoing IPA president Karine Pansa of Brazil; a wide-ranging interview with Scholastic chief Peter Warwick; perspectives on audio in Italy from Mondadori’s Miriam Spinnato; and more.
Publishing Perspectives is the International Publishers Association’s world media partner.
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