The Sharjah International Book Fair marks its 35th chapter next month, and on Tuesday, October 11, organisers announced the first eight writers who will attend the 11-day festival. The impressive list comprises best-selling authors, award-winning writers, travel experts, acclaimed poets and curated artists. The eight international authors we have profiled below, cover off Canada, the UK, the US, Turkey and Nigeria.
Arguably the biggest literary event in the Gulf region, the festival runs from November 2 to November 12 at the Expo Centre Sharjah, and if last year is anything to go by, it will boast 1.5 million book titles and nearly 900 events, including sessions and workshops.
Terry Fallis
This best-selling Canadian novelist has won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour twice, and is the best authority to lead a panel on how to become a professional writer (November 3, 8:30pm), considering that he self-published his first novel, The Best Laid Plans, in 2008.
The novel, a satire of Canadian politics, was described as the “essential Canadian novel of the decade”, and then developed into a six-part television series and a stage musical as well.
Today, Terry Fallis is the award-winning author of five national bestselling novels: The Best Laid Plans, its sequel The High Road, Up and Down, No Relation, and his latest published last year, Poles Apart. During his panel discussion, Fallis will delve into his journey towards becoming published, and how his past experience in politics as a public relations consultant helped him shape his characters and write his novels.
Rupi Kaur
Also hailing from Canada, Rupi Kaur is not only an author, but also a poet, multimedia artist and spoken performer based in Toronto. Her debut collection of poetry and prose, Milk and Honey, became a New York Times bestseller after it was published in 2014. It deals with themes of violence, abuse, love, loss and femininity.
Kaur is also a viral, social media sensation, with over 666,000 followers on Instagram — the platform where she shares her visual artwork and where she began her career in poetry. Last year, she made headlines around the world when Instagram twice removed a picture Kaur had posted during her menstrual cycle, claiming the post did not following community guidelines. Instagram has since apologised and restored her picture post. During the book fair, Kaur will lead a panel on poetry and its large audience (November 4, 8:30pm), where she will explain why she chose to turn to poetry to express her solidarity with other women she could relate to, and why she believes drawings and illustrations have the power to bring greater depth and meaning to her words.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
This Nigerian writer and journalist has won too many awards to list. His debut short story collection published in 2014, The Whispering Trees, was quickly followed a year later by his first novel, Season of Crimson Blossoms.
Ibrahim is a 2013 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fellow and a 2015 Civitella Ranieri Fellow. He was shortlisted for The Caine Prize for African Writing 2013 and won the BBC African Performance Price, the Amatu Braide Prize for Prose and is listed in the Hay Festival Africa 39 list as one of the most promising sub-Saharan African writers under 40.
He will lead a panel on the maps of writing between the mind and soul (November 2, 7:15pm).
Ciler Ilhan
Hailing from Turkey, Ciler Ilhan is the editor-in-chief of Conde Nast Traveller Turkey and the author of the novels Chamber of Dream Merchants and Exile, in addition to a host of published short stories, essays, book reviews and travel articles. She is also the winner of the 2011 EU Prize for Literature. She will lead a panel on travel, literature and its necessity (November 7, 6pm), drawing on her combined experience as a magazine editor, writer and traveller.
Jenny Balfour-Paul
A writer, artist, international lecturer and intrepid traveller, Dr Jenny Balfour-Paul from the United Kingdom will join Ilhan in leading the panel on travel writing and literature, discussing how her two classic books — Indigo in the Arab World and the acclaimed Deeper Than Indigo — began with a trip to Yemen in the 1980s. Balfour-Paul researches dyes recovered from shipwrecks and promotes revivals of natural dyes worldwide. She writes, teaches, lectures and broadcasts internationally on indigo and many other textile, history and travel subjects. Her collections of Arab and indigo-dyed textiles and related artefacts are held in major UK museums and she is honorary research fellow of Arabic and Islamic studies at Exeter University.
Ayisha Malik
Author of the crticially acclaimed Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged, Ayisha Malik is a British Muslim from London working in the editorial world. Her novel, about one Muslim women's attempts to simultaneously navigate the dating and publishing worlds in London, hits close to home in a case of art imitating life, and in it, Malik addresses the lack of Muslim heroines in popular fiction by presenting an authentic characterisation of modern Muslim women. She will lead a panel on feminist writing and the perception of women in literature (November 8, 7:15pm).
Eric Van Lustbader
When Jason Bourne creator Robert Ludlum died, it was American writer Eric Van Lustbader who was chosen by the late author's estate to continue the legacy of the Bourne series. The best-selling novelist has since written 10 books featuring the popular character immortalised by Matt Damon — the latest was The Bourne Enigma, published last year.
The novelist and will lead a panel on books becoming Hollywood film adaptations (November 4, 6pm). With a career that spans 40 years and more than 35 best-selling novels translated into 20 languages, Van Lustbader was once a music writer for Cash Box magazine, where he predicted the success of Elton John, Santana, Roxy Music, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie, among others.
Cassandra Clare
The only young adult writer confirmed at the book fair thus far, Cassandra Clare from the US is the author of the successful series The Mortal Instruments and its companion series The Infernal Devices, and was described the by The Wall Street Journal as the "new queen of fantasy". Once a journalist and children's bookseller, Clare will lead a panel on creating a fantasy book phenomenon (November 3, 6pm) where she will discuss how travelling in our increasingly unified global culture can affect the way we read and write.
The Sharjah International Book Fair runs from November 2-12 at the Expo Centre Sharjah, visit www.sharjahbookfair.com for more information.
artslife@thenational.ae
