Sharjah Book Authority Concludes its Professional Programme

Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) yesterday (Tuesday) concluded its Professional Programme for publishers, a precursor activity to Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF). Approximately 400 publishing sector stakeholders participated at the two-day Sharjah Chamber of Commerce event, which each year brings together international publishing rights professionals to be updated on the latest developments.

Among the sessions taking place during the second day of the programme was a session that revealed the details of the first Arabic edition of Publishers Weekly (PW), the trade news magazine that targets publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents.

Giving an overview of the new launch – the result of a partnership between PW and SBA - were Salim Omar Salim, Director of Sales and marketing for SBA and Cevin Bryerman, Executive Vice President/Publisher at PW.

“This is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the field of publishing in the region, with the partnership meaning that 30 per cent of the contents of PW Arabic will be translated from the American version and 70 per cent will be articles in Arabic sourced from the region. These will address the major issues in publishing as well as offer book reviews, industry insights and an analysis of trends.” said Salim Omar.

“We are very much looking forward to building on this new partnership, which is an important development for the regional publishing sector.” said Bryerman.

‘The Challenges of Global Distribution in the Digital Age’ was the title of a session chaired by Sherif Bakr, Managing Director of Al Arabi Publishing and Distribution, the discussion featured Steve Potash, President and CEO for Overdrive and David Taylor, Senior Vice President, Content Acquisition International, Ingram Content Group. Among the topics the trio addressed was how print-on-demand could prevent the situation of warehouses being filled with unsold books and how digital books confer huge advantages for libraries in terms of accessibility and a reduction in space needed to host them.

Chairing another morning session titled ‘Spotlight on Literature in Translation’ was Michel Moushabeck, Publisher and Editor at Interlink Publishing. He led Sonia Draga, Owner, President and Editor-in-Chief of Sonia Draga Ltd. Publishing House and Gabriella Page-Fort, Senior Editor at AmazonCrossing, in a discussion that looked at how translation was the key for cross-cultural understanding. They also examined the various reasons why there was a dearth of translation taking place in major markets such as the USA.