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 …
Usually on alternate Sundays I review the latest Hot Sheet from Jane Friedman and Porter Anderson, but this time around it was a review of the past year and much of what is covered has been discussed in previous reviews here, so this week I’m doing my own TNPS-style review of the 2017 publishing year Read More …
Back in May Book Expo New York hosted an event titled Reaching the Arab World – the New Gateway Hub – The Sharjah Publishing City Initiative. Given the panel comprised Ahmed Al Ameri, Former Director of the Sharjah International Book Fair and Head of the Sharjah Book Authority, alongside the CEOs of Ingram and OverDrive, Read More …
The world’s third largest book fair gets under way today, in the sandy desert of the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates probably isn’t on the radar of most publishers – as we all know, Arabs don’t read, and to even think about the Arab book market is waste of time. Or so conventional wisdom Read More …
The Second Arab Reading Challenge has just wound up. Twenty-five nations took part. Seven million students from 40,000 schools supported by 75,000 teachers. The challenge? To read fifty books a year. And in the United Arab Emirates alone 300,000 students completed the task. So much for the idea that Arabs don’t read. And yet… There’s Read More …
Prior to the launch of The New Publishing Standard one of my plans was to have a regular Sunday feature summarising the latest Hot Sheet (the industry news-sheet for authors, produced every two weeks by Porter Anderson and Jane Friedman) as it rolled off the cyber-presses. As Friedman and Anderson say, “we’re not interested in Read More …
The 17th Amman International Book Fair kicks off next week (October 4) with a ten day event in the Jordanian capital. Nineteen countries will be represented (up from fifteen last year), reflecting not a lack of interest but a lack of space – many applications were turned down, Jordanian Publishers Union Chairman Fathi Al Biss Read More …
