Sharjah is set to become an international hub for publishing - that was the message delivered yesterday (Monday) at the opening of the Professional Programme, a two-day precursor event to Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) with the participation of more than 400 publishers from around the world.

The comments were made by HE Ahmed Al Ameri, Chairman of Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), who highlighted the developments that have elevated Sharjah’s stature on the global publishing stage.

“A few months ago Sharjah attained a new international accomplishment by being awarded the status of World Book Capital 2019, by UNESCO. We are now about to see the first phase of Sharjah Publishing City open and this new facility, with its array of services dedicated to the publishing sector, is set to take Sharjah from being a regional publishing hub to a global one that will attract publishers from around the world,” said Al Ameri.

In his speech, Dr. Michael Kolman, President of the International Publishers Association said, “It is my first time here in Sharjah but I am extremely impressed by how seriously the emirate takes reading and literature. It is clear that anyone who places a large sculpture of a book in the centre of a roundabout thinks that books are important.”

The topic of translation was one that came up in the next session, with three eminent Arab authors relaying their personal experiences of having their work translated. The trio of writers were participating in a session titled ‘Arab authors in conversation,’ which was moderated by Tamer Said, Managing Director of Kalimat Group, the region’s first publisher dedicated to producing children’s books.

The penultimate session saw Bassam Chebaro, President of Arab Scientific Publishers Inc; Mari Bergeron, Senior Director of International Content Licensing at EBSCO and Julie Attrill Manager, International Rights at Wiley, discuss essential tips for the Professional Programme attendees to maximise their opportunity to reach business deals during the two days.

Mariam Al Ali, Sales Support Executive at SBA, highlighted the benefits of the USD 300,000 Translation Grant, which is open to publishers who translate books. She explained that the fund was worth total of USD 250,000 for books being translated to and from Arabic and USD 50,000 for books translated to and from other languages.

SBA’s Professional Programme takes place each year immediately before the 11-day SIBF and brings together international publishing rights professionals to be updated on the latest developments relating to the buying and selling of rights, to network and to conduct translation rights transactions.