The 29th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which runs April 24-30 this year, has had to turn away over 100 publishers this year as demand massively exceeded available space at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. This despite fierce competition from the annual Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival and the once in a lifetime celebrations as Sharjah becomes Read More …
Starting April 24 and running through until May 4, the 32nd Tehran International Book Fair has China as guest of honour this year, and as usual the event promises to be spectacular, with around 2 million visitors piling in. Last year’s incarnation brought in sales worth the USD equivalent of $38 million, but despite this Read More …
A writers workshop in Abu Dhabi that went from 12 to 2,500 members. A pay-to-get-in bookstore in Japan. A book exchange at a train station in Pakistan. How children’s books went from japan to Mosul in Iraq. And how the lyrics of the Moroccan national anthem came to be written. We start today with a Read More …
In case you missed any, the past week’s posts from TNPS: As the National Library of Paraguay gets a new Director, Paraguay’s publishing future is digital 2020 World Book Capital’s censorship double standards: It’s one rule for Malay titles and another if the book is in English Mark Williams At Large Amsterdam’s Festival voor het Afrikaans Read More …
Al Ain is not the biggest book fair in Abu Dhabi – that won’t be until April 2019 when the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair kicks off – but Al Ain, running September 23 through October 2, is one of countless book fairs I’ll be reporting on across the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region Read More …
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA) will be running a seminar at the New York Public Library tomorrow as the next stage of the Arab Renaissance unfolds. The seminar is to introduce the recently launched Translation Fund, which looks to support Arabic literature reaching the English, French and German language markets. Juergen Boos, President of Read More …
The global publishing market has never been more exciting, and every day myriad publishing stories cross my screen that I’d love to develop here at TNPS, but there simply isn’t time. But if you’re reading TNPS in the first place you probably share my obsession with all things international publishing, and would no doubt enjoy Read More …
With the theme “Your Future … Just a Book Away” the just-ended tenth Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival in the United Arab Emirates drew 247,000 visitors, of which 52,000 were children. While the 2018 event fell short of last year’s record 306,000 visitors it was still an impressive turnout, and all the more so given the Read More …
In Argentina today the Buenos Aries International Book Fair kicks off. It runs from April 26 through May 14, and 1.2 million visitors are expected. At the other end of the scale, a smaller but no less significant book event is underway in South Africa. The Rutanang Book Festival runs April 26-28. Although it started back Read More …
Digital debates are nothing new at the Arab book fairs, but 2018 may prove the tipping point in which digital books start to become mainstream in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region and other parts of the world hitherto considered indifferent to ebooks. The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which starts today in the Read More …
Last month the second Saudi Arabia Comic Con took place. Numbers are just in and 25,000 people turned up for the event in Riyadh. This past week Saudi cinema re-opened after 35 years, and the first film shown was Marvel’s Black Panther. While In Dubai the Middle East Film and Comic Con attracted 60,000 visitors, Read More …
Storytel continues to put clear blue water between itself and its biggest rival, Audible, as it launches in its eleventh territory. And contrary to expectations it is the UAE, not Turkey, that becomes the second new Storytel nation of 2018. Earlier this year Storytel launched in Iceland – Storytel launches in Iceland. Italy, Bulgaria and Turkey Read More …
The London Book Fair is underway, and there’s no question it’s one of the most important trade book fairs of the year. But these big trade events (the London Book Fair, the New York Book Expo, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the Frankfurt Book Fair, etc,) are just that – trade-focussed events where public access Read More …
Ebook subscription service Youboox has partnered with InkBook to offer its services pre-installed on InkBook devices. The Paris-based Youboox services has been streaming ebooks, magazine and comics in France since 2011. The new deal means new InkBook buyers will get a year’s Youboox subscription as part of the package, while pre-existing Youbook subscribers can get Read More …
