25 Indian publishers exhibit

The eighteenth Abu Dhabi International book fair has been the biggest thus far with about 430 publishers participating from all over the world this past week. The Abu Dhabi exhibition center located close to the international airport now has floor space of 16,722 square meters. In the words of Jumaa Al Qubaisi, director Abu Dhabi International book fair it has been the first effort by the Arabs, with the help of the Frankfurt Book Fair, to convert a “medieval book bazaar” into a professional book fair.

The fair opened on 11 March and was inaugurated by H.H Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates. He commented on the importance of the event in encouraging the reading of books in Arabic by the 300 million people who live in the region. For the first time the first day was exclusively for trade visitors including publishers, distributors, librarians and other book professionals. There were about twenty-five Indian publishers present which is probably second to the number of Arab publishers at the fair. There were eleven publishers from the U.K and about six German publishers.

Abhinav publications, S.Chand and Company, Full circle, Diamond pocket books, Prentice Hall of India, Pustak Mahal, Har Anand Publications, Tara books and XACT Studio Publications were some of the Indian publisher exhibitors. Although the first day did not see too many visitors, and there was not too much activity at most stands, Prentice Hall still had a few customers and inquiries.

Since promotion of reading among young children in the Arab countries is an important mission for Kitab (the joint venture between the Abu Dhabi authority for culture and Heritage and Frankfurt Book Fair) there is a dedicated children’s corner at the fair, which definitely has been a success. At most times it was packed with school children involved in some activity. The first day also had a session for parents and teachers to discuss the success of Jordan’s reading campaign, in the hope that Abu Dhabi parents and teachers could benefit from the experience of others.

The match making session held to bring together Arab and non-Arab publishers also had more participants than expected. There were about thirty pre-registered participants and about sixty eventually attended the session. Another session hosted by Alexandra Buechler (Literature Across Frontiers, UK) called “Enhancing Translations Worldwide” presented international programmes for the promotion of translation. The discussion forum held a session, “Information on the Arab Book Market for International Publishers,” hosted by Bachar Chebaro from Arab Scientific Publishers, Lebanon which also attracted an interested audience. Chebaro highlighted that fifty per cent of the Arab world is still illiterate and therefore Arab publishers were still not too many and not doing too well. The few large Arab publishers are not yet expert in marketing. He said there was a lack of organization in distribution, and publishers were overly dependent on fairs and book shops. Another major challenge faced by foreign publishers in the Arab world are the stringent censorship laws in the country.

The inaugural International Prize for Arabic fiction was also awarded on the same day to Baha Taher for his book “Sunset Oasis” at a gala dinner at the Beach Rotana hotel in Abu Dhabi. Taher was awarded US$ 60,000 (Rs 24 lakhs), making the prize money the highest sum given to an author for his work published in Arabic. Five runners up were also awarded a sum of US$ 10,000 (Rs 4 lakhs) each. The prize that has been launched by the Emirates foundation in partnership with UK’s Booker Prize Foundation acknowledges prose literature written in the Arabic language.
Unfortunately Tuesday night just before the second day at the fair was extremely tragic, with three people being killed and nearly 350 injured in a horrific sixty-vehicle pile-up on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway near Ghantoot. The twenty-five kilometre stretch of the UAE’s busiest highway from Abu Dhabi to Dubai was closed for more than five hours, resulting in huge tailbacks during rush hours. Almost twenty-five vehicles caught fire following the accident caused by poor visibility due to the thick fog that night. This accident considerably reduced the expected crowd at the book fair on the next day.