Sharjah International Book Fair is participating in the 45th Cairo International Book Fair, taking place in the period between January 22nd and February 4, 2014, where its pavilion has already attracted high levels of interest, including visits by a number of prominent figures such as the Ambassador of UAE in Egypt HE Mohammad Nukhaira Al Daheri.

Themed ’Culture and Identity’, this year’s edition of Cairo International Book Fair was opened by Adly Mansour, Acting President of Egypt, and Minister of Culture Mohamed Saber Arab and will see the participation of 755 local, Arabic, and international publishers from 24 countries, including 17 Arabic countries. The Book Fair will also be extended to the famous Azbakeya, where 92 kiosks will be selling books for the duration of the fair.
The Sharjah delegation to Cairo International Book Fair is headed by HE Abdullah Al Oweis, President of the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah and Mr Abdullah Al Manai . Other delegation members include Fadel Hussein, Vice Coordinator-General and Zaher El Sousi, Sales Executive – Arabia at SIBF.

HE Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Owais, President of the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah, expressed his pleasure at this participation, which comes in line with the directions of His Highness, Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, aimed at strengthening relationships in culture and development with all Arab countries. This participation also affirms the pioneering role Egypt plays in the Arabic cultural scene. HE also highlighted that the Department is keen on active participation in such events, which represent important opportunities for cultural and intellectual dialogue, adding, along with the presence of elite cultural figures and creative people, to the positive cultural outcome at Cairo Book Fair.

Al Owais reaffirmed that the cultural relations between the Department and Egypt commenced with the Department’s establishment, as testified by the continuous presence of Egyptian creative figures in all cultural events in Sharjah, including SIBF, Sharjah Theatre Days, and other theatre and poetry events, as well as arts, calligraphy, and Islamic arts festivals, and many other events where Egyptian cultural figures left remarkable fingerprints.

On his part, SIBF Director Ahmed Bin Rakkad Al Ameri said that the Cairo Book Fair maintained a special prominence in SIBF’s yearly calendar as it was one of the first external events that Sharjah had ever taken part in. Sharjah maintains excellent communications with all Egyptian cultural institutions, which lead SIBF management to select Egypt as the guest of honour at SIBF 2012, in line with the directions of Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who has the highest regard for Egypt’s status in culture, literature, and history.

Al Ameri indicated that SIBF’s pavilion at the Cairo Book Fair would work on attracting Egyptian publishers to take part in the Sharjah International Book Fair, and promoting SIBF’s ’Translation Grant’ among them. The Grant, which succeeded in attracting a large number of Egyptian and Arabic publishers since its start, aims at promoting the translation of books to and from Arabic, with the goal of enhancing Arabic and international contemporary content. The pavilion will also communicate with Egyptian scholars, authors, and media personnel, to invite them to take part in the cultural and intellectual program usually held in parallel to SIBF.

Sharjah International Book Fair has prepared a rich programme to take advantage of this participation, which aims at introducing SIBF and its programmes and events, as well as shed some light on Sharjah, Capital of Islamic culture 2014. Sharjah will also organise a special cultural event, inviting a number of Egyptian poets previously honoured by the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah in 2010. The poets will be celebrated and handed copies of the book published by the Department, containing their poems.

Sharjah will furthermore be present in a number of events held in parallel with the Cairo Book fair, including intellectual seminars, cultural and poetry readings, concerts, meet-ups, and workshops. These events will gather cultural figures from various Arabic and international countries. Kuwait, being the ’Guest of Honour’ in the 45th edition, will attract special attention, with a number of events highlighting its contribution to the Arabic cultural scene.
 

We accept Guest Posts

Download the Dubai City Guide iPhone mobile app

DubaiCityGuide.com is owned and managed by Cyber Gear