Famous media personalities and legal experts moderate 3rd Arab Publishers Conference sessions

An elite group of renowned media figures and legal experts from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the US will moderate the 3rd Arab Publishers Conference, hosted by Sharjah from November 2-3 at Al Jawaher Reception and Convention Centre.

The list of moderators will include Sheikh Sultan bin Saud Al Qasimi, Dr Abdul Rahman Hassan Al Muaini, Dr Sulaiman Al Hattlan, Dr Yousef Abdul Ghaffar Al Sharif, Dr Perween Habib, Dr Yong Song Shi, Dr Mariam Al Shanasi, and journalist Safiya Al Shehi.

On day one of the conference, Dr Abdul Rahman Hassan Al Muaini, Director of the Customer Service at the General Department of Total Quality at Dubai Police, will moderate the first session titled “Protecting Intellectual Property in the Digital Age”. Al Muaini is a prominent legal expert from the UAE who has a PhD in ‘Application of Copyright Law in the UAE’.

Renowned Saudi TV host, Dr Sulaiman Al Hattlan, CEO of the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai and Founder and CEO of Al Hattlan Media, who recently joined the Sky News Arabia team, will moderate the second session "Challenges and Opportunities in Educational Publishing". Al Hattlan's vast experience in academic work in Harvard University and his work in print, visual and electronic media will contribute to enriching discussions during the session.

The third session on "Fighting Piracy" will be moderated by lawyer and legal adviser, Dr Yousef Abdul Ghaffar Al Sharif, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Al Bayan Centre for Studies and Research. Al Sharif is also the Chairman of the legal Committee of the UAE Football Association, an expert at the Los Angeles Superior Court in the US State of California, and local and international arbitrator for a number of international arbitration centres. 

Renowned Poet and TV host and presenter Perween Habib will moderate the fourth session on the first day of the conference titled "Publishing and translation in the Arab world - is the tide turning?" Poet Habib is one of the most influent media personalities in the cultural sphere, and hosted a number of successful talk shows aired on TV. She is well known in cultural and art circles in the UAE and Bahrain.

The second day of the conference begins with a session moderated by Sheikh Sultan bin Saud Al Qasimi titled “Freedom of expression = Freedom to publish". Al Qasimi is a Research Fellow at Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government and founder and CEO of Barjeel Securities. He is actively involved in youth empowerment and entrepreneurship. A very active twitter user, Al Qasimi also writes opinion pieces in leading international newspapers such as The New York Times, The Independent and The Guardian.

A session titled "Distribution in the Digital Age" will be conducted by Dr Young Song Shi, who is an internationally acclaimed expert in the media technology industry. He is the Board Chairman of Elsafeer Company, and Chairman of Corporate and strategic Affairs in Asia at Rilex Group. Dr Young Song has vast experience in working with major publishing groups such as Random House and Ingram Books. He co-founded the publishing company Lightning Source, which prints and distributes e-books.

Young media personality, Safia Mohammed Al Shehhi, who is a winner of Sheikha Latifa Childhood Creativity Award, will moderate the seventh session titled "The quest for innovative and engaging content”. Despite being very young, Al Shehhi has presented a number of successful programmes on Sama Dubai TV channel and Al Khaleejiya Radio, besides her work in Al Emarat Channel where she presents “The Spirit of the Union" and "Abu Dhabi Reads" programmes. 

The conference concludes on November 3, with a session titled "A Look at Tomorrow's Library", presented by Dr Mariam Al Shanasi, President of the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA). Al Shanasi worked as Executive Director for Technical Affairs and adviser to the Minister of Environment and Water, and as Assistant Professor and Head of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Sharjah. She is known for her contributions to the publishing industry as she founded Yasmine Publishing House, one of the renowned publishing houses in the UAE.

The conference will see participation from publishing organisations and literary agencies, Ministries of Culture, Arab Publishing Associations and syndicate directors of public libraries, as well as directors of book fairs, government and private organisations in  the publishing sector, in addition to intellectuals, authors, writers, media representatives, and legal and academic professionals from all over the world.