The 39th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), organized by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), will be held from Nov. 4 to 14 under the theme “The World Reads from Sharjah.”
A comprehensive overview of what the 2020 edition of SIBF will entail was revealed at a press event on Monday, which was broadcast live on Zoom from the SBA headquarters in Sharjah. The literary and cultural program designed for the 11-day event this year is bringing together 1,024 publishers from 73 countries along with 60 Arab and international authors from 19 countries, who will participate in 64 events and activities in a hybrid online-offline format.
The press conference was attended by Ahmed bin Rakkan Al-Ameri, chairman of SBA; Abdulaziz Taryam, CEO, adviser and general manager of Etisalat — Northern Emirates; Brig. General Dr. Ahmed Saeed Al-Naour, director general of central operations, Sharjah Police; Salem Al-Ghaithi, director of Sharjah TV; and a host of officials, journalists as well as media and cultural personalities from across the world.
Visitors will be able to experience the excitement of being surrounded by more than 80,000 titles being brought to Sharjah’s Expo Center by 1,024 publishers from 73 nations. The lineup of publishers includes 578 Arab publishers and 129 international names, featuring 202 from Egypt and 186 from the UAE, 93 from Lebanon, 72 from Syria, 46 from Saudi Arabia, 39 from the UK, 29 from the US, 13 from Italy, 12 from France, and 8 from Canada.
SIBF 2020 is bringing together 60 intellectuals, artists and cultural figures from 19 countries. Luminaries from the region include Wasini Al-A’raj, Algerian writer; Egyptian author and screenwriter of fiction and nonfiction, Ahmed Mourad; Kuwaiti writer Mishel Hamad; Iraqi writer, poet academic and translator, Muhsin Al-Ramli; and Lebanese theater director, writer, producer, and educator, Lina Khoury.
International appearances at the event will be made by American poet and spoken word artist, Prince Ea; Robert Kiyosaki, American businessman and author; Lang Leav, bestselling author from New Zealand; Ian Rankin, bestselling writer from the UK; Lebanese-Canadian author Najwa Zebian; Neil Pasricha, Canadian author and television host; popular Italian children’s books author, Elisabetta Dami; Indian authors Ravinder Singh and Dr. Shashi Tharoor; and British writer Richard Ovenden, among others.
