Sharjah Book Fair’s cultural services highlighted in New York

The Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) held a series of talks with various cultural institutions and publishing houses in New York as part of its visit to the United States. The visit comes in line with the SIBF’s commitment to enhance intercultural relations and explore ways to forge further partnerships and expand the scope of foreign participations, as well as other related matters.

The Director of SIBF, Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, held a meeting with Publishers Weekly (PW), a leading American weekly trade news magazine dedicated to book publishing and bookselling news. He also met with Andrea Chambers, Director of the Centre for Publishing at New York University (NYU), to discuss avenues of cooperation and a number of topics related to the book industry, as well as the latest developments in the global publishing industry.

Al Ameri also made use of SIBF’s visit to New York to attend the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference, the seminal event for professionals and companies engaged with the challenges and opportunities of new publishing technologies and business models, which took place from the 12th to the 14th of February at the New York Marriott Marquis.

The SIBF director expressed his pleasure at having attended this premier international publishing platform and stated that his participation allowed him to further expand and broaden the SIBF’s international presence and engage a number of the world’s leading publishing stakeholders in meaningful dialogue.

Speaking on the occasion, SIBF Director Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, said, "SIBF continues to make great strides, year after year, towards establishing its leading position on the globe’s book calendar on local, regional, and international levels. We have been widely welcomed in New York due to the resounding achievements made by SIBF, in terms of excellence in organisation, SIBF’s annual increase in participation rates, and the quality of programmes and events held on the sidelines of the Sharjah International Book Fair - a fact that reflects the great support enjoyed by SIBF, as well as our keen interest in achieving further robust successes." He added, "The two meetings were fruitful as we were keen to highlight our experiences and make the best use of the outstanding expertise of the prestigious Publishers Weekly Magazine - the international authority on book publishing and bookselling." "Our meeting with the New York University was important as well, as we discussed the possibility of bringing academic professors from the university to the UAE to organise workshops for publishers during the Professional Program held prior to the opening of the Sharjah International Book Fair," he commented.

Al Ameri went on to say "We also enquired as to the possibility of NYU sending volunteer students so as to closely acquaint themselves with the Fair’s preparations and activities as well as to share and contribute with their own ideas that would enrich the Fair’s experience and add to its year after year successes, ideas have been greatly welcomed by NYU Management." In addition, the SIBF Director is due to hold a number of meetings with other prestigious American cultural and academic institutions.

The Sharjah International Book Fair was established in 1982 under an Emiri decree issued by His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and has grown to become one of the biggest book fairs in the Middle East.

The 10-day annual Book Fair is a direct result of Sharjah’s dedication and commitment to developing and maintaining a culture of reading within the Emirate and the UAE, as is clearly encapsulated in the SIBF motto - For the love of the written word.

Emirate:  Sharjah

Date: Feb 24, 2013

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