Category: Middle East
TNPS Thought for Christmas: TV celebrity children’s authors will never match the magic of Rowling or Blyton
Fewer and fewer children are reading for pleasure, in large part because the education system has failed them, but also in no small part because a TV celebrity riding on a ghostwriter’s skills and a jovial TV persona will never match the magic of a JK Rowling or an Enid Blyton, that wrote for children, not for fame and fortune.
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Saudi Arabia – Jeddah Book Fair 2024 Is Underway
Among the usual highlights is a one-off event celebrating the Year of the Camel (in fact the Year of the Camelids, so alpacas , lamas and vicunas too, but guessing there aren’t too many of those on the Peninsula).
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Qatar seems to wilfully misunderstand books and technology. They work together, not against one another
Most of history’s civilisations rose, flourished and fell without a book in sight, and when books finally became a thing, many books were a means to oppress and deliver destruction, not to build. “Mein Kampf”, anyone?
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Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh International Book Fair hopes for another million-visitor event next week
Kudos to Dr Mohammed Alwan for not only embracing and promoting reading for pleasure, but also embracing and promoting technology and digital solutions.
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Saudi Arabia – 3rd Madinah Book Fair saw visitors numbers rise 22% to 170,000
The 170,000 visitor turnout, while impressive for a regional fair, is dwarfed by the Jeddah book fair’s typical 500,000 visitor count, while the main event of the year, the Riyadh International Book Fair, routinely attracts more than one million visitors each year.
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14 Books by Arab Women for 2024’s Women in Translation Month
“Fourteen books by Arab women — written by women from across the Maghreb and Mashreq,...
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Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre signs MoUs with music streaming platform Anghami and audiobook provider Iqraaly
Anghami, with a catalogue of 57 million songs and 200,000 podcasts, is the first to sign up.
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Oman – 28th Muscat IBF attracts almost 400,000 visitors amid a “significant shift towards Arabic children’s literature”
Not, of course, that we in the west are in any position to assume the moral high ground, given the recent track record in the United States for banning children’s books.
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The 4th Iraq International Book Fair is underway
The 4th Iraq International Book Fair runs February 14 through 24 this year. Details are sparse at...
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UAE – Sharjah TV’s book programme Fikr Wa Qalam (Thought and Pen) starts its 4th season
A 50-minute televised literary platform hosted by Alia Ali Mansouri. Produced in cooperation with...
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UAE – Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature lines up astronauts and a Booker prize winner
The 16th Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature is fast approaching, in 2024 running from 31...
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Saudi Arabia – Jeddah Book Fair: Novels, Poetry, and Communication Skills Take Center Stage
World Today News has a must-read account of the Jeddah Book Fair, that recently finished in Saudi...
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