- Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi: “If we have been successful in the 30th Edition of SIBF, we promise you to be much better in the coming year!”
His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, confirmed that the emirate of Sharjah will persist ahead with its unique cultural project through the further development of all the cultural events that are held in the emirate, most notably SIBF, which has at its thirtieth session of this year an unprecedented success at all levels.
His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah in his statement on the closure Ceremony of the 30th Edition of Sharjah International Book Fair stressed that the great success of the thirtieth session of the SIBF was a harvest of 30 years of hard work and cultural accumulation of the emirate, built on solid foundations, pointing out that this success will only be more motivating to work to achieve the ambitions and goals to upgrade the Arab and Islamic culture to international standards.
In a reply of the his highness to what was published by some local newspapers yesterday of opinions and proposals for a number of critics, poets, writers and Arab intellectuals, saying: “We in the SIBF are not seeking the quantum of what we offer from cultural programs, but we are keen to have diversity in all programs that do not conflict with each other in principle, where we made sure that our cultural programs serve different segments of intellectuals & no doubt that the overwhelming response received by the various cultural programs of the SIBF is an evidence of the success of these programs, which for us is an impetus towards further development in future sessions in God willing. “
And about the large number of participating publishers, which reached to 900 House from around the world His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi said: “This will enhance competition among the various participating publishing houses and no doubt it supports the amount of offered titles and its cultural diversity and quality, what as whole therefore pours in the interest of the intellectual & reader, which has a greater choice of titles that can be obtained at a competitive price, so the show becomes a platform for the largest number of publishers and the destination for hundreds of thousands of readers and intellectuals who the show serves their different directions and cultural interests. “
And about some of the proposals addressed to attract members of the students of City University of Sharjah to volunteer to engage in the show by attending seminars, conventions, cultural and various other events, His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah indicated that the exhibition this year has included more than 100 collaborator of university students and fresh graduates who had an active presence in all the exhibition, stressing on his direct keenness of the participation of university students in the cultural activities of high significance as Sharjah international Book Fair, where his highness welcomed strengthening the role of the people of the UAE from university students in all events and cultural activities and others hosted by the Emirate of Sharjah throughout the year.
His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi also welcomed the proposal of organizing an annual meeting that brings together UAE authors with his highness saying: “I will make sure in the next few days to meet the Emarati writers and intellectuals to get out with cultural visions for the development of the cultural scene in the UAE. He added “no doubt that this is in the depth of Sharjah cultural strategy, provided that it will be consistent and continuous so Sharjah will remain the cultural beacon of the region, since the development in the cultural landscape is not complete without listening to the views of all segments interested in this sector, led by writers and intellectuals. “
And regarding the allocation of an award for the “UAE novelist” as the novel has become in this age of the major writing arts and most widely spread not on the Arab level only, but also on its global reach, and its is a priority that the UAE novelist acquires some interest in this aspect, plus combining efforts in order to enable this novelist to take his literary place that he deserves throughout the wide world, His Highness, Ruler of Sharjah stressed that SIBF was concerned since the early nineties on allocating awards to UAE authors, including the composition and preparation, studies, translation & printing, where the exhibition included since more than 20 years, four prizes for UAE authors represented by; the best UAE author, best UAE preparation and studies, best UAE translated book and best book printed in the UAE, and this indicates the keenness of the Sharjah international Book Fair to give great attention to the UAE authors and the writers as well as publishers and everything related to the UAE cultural program.”
As stated in the local newspapers regarding the proposal to create a “Reading Club ” that includes a group of young volunteers of all ages spread out in every district in UAE cities, providing assistance to groups who can not read as the illiterates, the blind, the elderly and children, His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi confirmed that the Sharjah International Book Fair had established the first reading club to broadcast live through Sharjah TV entitled “In the Presence of the book” to encourage all segments of society to read, where the program was on air since January of 2011. Moreover, SIBF includes Arab book Club, whereas Sharjah has a large number of reading and writing clubs, of a number of cultural institutions in the emirate, which is undoubtedly complementary to the “Culture without Borders” project, which distributes libraries free of charge to families in the Emirate of Sharjah. HH also indicated that in the coming years the exhibition will present more of cultural programs in support to all the UAE junior writing talents (new writers), with leading and encouraging them towards more donation & cultural creativity, and for this the SIBF invited a group of UAE intellectuals to participate in a number of seminars that the exhibition’s management is involved with around the world.”
At the close of his remarks, His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, expressed extreme pleasure with the great success achieved by the Sharjah International Book Fair at its thirtieth session, which attracted 900 publishers representing 50 countries from around the world for 10 days, where this year’s session came distinctive in its great variety of events and participants that aimed at the most, to give visitors a rich cultural experience through the vast amount of titles that exceeded the barrier of 300 thousand title, where His Highness gave his speech to publishers, writers, intellectuals and visitors, saying ” if we have been successful in the 30th Edition of SIBF, we promise you to be much better in the coming year. “
Also this year, Sharjah International Book Fair has witnessed the launch of grant translation Box of $300,000 U.S. dollars to support the field of translation, networking and educational programs to encourage the translation of books to and from Arabic to enrich the Arab and global culture with new & valuable stocks of knowledge and science that belong to our cultural opposing world. Also this year, the exhibition included the “on air reading club” and this was further to the experience of the program “in the presence of the book,” which was launched in cooperation with Sharjah Media Organization, which has presented a great supply of books & best titles.
Over 10 days, the exhibition also hosted a group of journalists, publishers & writers, through a series of seminars and programs which received admiration of many visitors in various categories and ages, including the fourth session of the Arab Publishers cycle, which included a range of advice and guidance concerning the process of marketing, publishing and strategic plans through which they can employ websites as well as operations of buying & selling publications online, also children had a large share through the “child program” which presented more than 200 activities with great variety throughout the days of the events.
It is worth mentioning that the Sharjah International Book Fair which launched the activities of its thirtieth session for this year in mid-November in coordination with the other Arab and international exhibitions will kick its thirty-one session on the seventh of November 2012, which allows greater opportunities to visitors to acquire more of the cultural addresses.
