The Sharjah International Book Fair just missed last year’s record-breaking 2.38 million visitors, but it was still a fabulous show, with 2.23 million turning out to the UAE’s biggest literary event. Sales numbers haven’t been announced yet, but at day 7 (of 11) were reported to be running at 15% higher than 2017’s record-breaking sales. Read More …
Margaret Atwood’s famous dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale is available in Arabic – for the first time ever. The internationalisation of the Arab book markets continues apace, and is epitomised by the release of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in Arabic at the Sharjah International Book Fair. Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s novel, set in a Read More …
38 books have been prevented from sale at the 13th Erbil International Book Fair in Iraq’s Kurdistan, and the silence from the freedom of speech supporters has been deafening. In stark contrast to the outrage occasioned by Kuwait’s (admittedly larger scale) censorship – A mermaid wearing a bra among the books banned in Kuwait, but Read More …
Here’s a second chance to see the TNPS post from the past seven days. Start the Day Global – 30 September 2018 Sweden’s Storytel Arabia partners with Jordan’s Jamalon to expand MENA audiobook reach Nigerian student writer wins trip to Sharjah International Book fair. They never had prizes like that when I was a kid! Read More …
The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) held a press conference this week to mark the countdown to the 2018 Sharjah International Book Fair, which last year clocked 2.38 million visitors. The 1.6 million books that will be on sale is itself a record, as is the 1,847 publishers from 77 countries that will be at the Read More …
Back in the last century when I was a kid I won my fair share of writing prizes for my back-then handwritten essays and stories. The prizes were much appreciated – a book token, a cinema ticket, etc – but not quite in the same class as the trophy for winning Nigeria’s 2018 Channels Book 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 …
It was back in February that TNPS broke the news that the world’s biggest book sale would be heading for Dubai this year. World’s biggest book sale heading to Bangladesh, Dubai, Korea and Taiwan this year Now it’s official. Malaysia-based Big Bad Wolf, the World’s biggest book sale, will debut in Arabic-speaking Dubai, part of Read More …
Here’s a summary of TNPS posts from the past seven days. UK’s Bradford Lit Fest and USA’s Washington National Book Fest see record attendance Sharjah Publishing City sponsors Nigerian literature award Ireland: “A buoyant time for publishing. One of today’s most vibrant book markets.” Sweden-based Arabic-language audiobook firm Kitab Sawti attracts new investment Peru exempts Read More …
The third edition of Nigeria’s Channel Book Club Literature Prize is being sponsored by the UAE’s Sharjah Publishing City. The Sharjah Publishing City, part of the Sharjah Book Authority’s mandate to promote a global reading culture, aims to raise awareness of the SPC in Africa and to introduce African authors and publishers to the UAE, Read More …
