The head of the Sharjah Book Authority has pledged that the Sharjah International Book Fair will soon be the biggest in the world.
The annual event already attracts more than one million visitors a year and is ranked the third-biggest trade fair for books on the planet.
SBA chairman Ahmed Al Ameri says Sharjah could top the list in just a few years – with the priority being to find a larger exhibition space to accommodate the growing ambitions.
“We are third in the world,” he says. “With a new space, we will be number one.”
This year, the book fair celebrates its 35th edition, which will be hosted at its long-term base in the Expo Centre Sharjah, which was established in 1977 and moved to its current 128,000-square-metre location in 2002.
The 11-day fair attracts the general public in far greater numbers than the competition, clocking 1.2 million visitors last year and 1.4 million in 2014. In comparison, last year’s Frankfurt Book Fair attracted 275,000 guests over five days, of which about 100,000 were members of the public.
However, the German event is ranked as the largest in the world, hosting more than 7,000 exhibitors from almost 130 countries. This year, Sharjah will welcome 1,460 exhibitors from 60 countries, says Al Ameri – 40 more than previously announced.
Asked where the fair will be in five years, Al Ameri replies: “On top of the world. We are building a hub for publishing within the region. What we did is switch the cultural forces in the Middle East to the UAE.
“We showcased the UAE as the pioneer of culture, the pioneer in producing and promoting.”
Al Ameri points to the recent news that Sharjah will be the official guest of honour at the São Paulo International Book Fair in 2018 – one of Latin America’s most important literary events – as proof of the emirate’s growing international reputation.
“Seeing São Paulo choose Sharjah as guest of honour – that shows how far we reach out,” he says.
“There is a huge population of Arab immigrants living [in Brazil], and this is our opportunity to promote our culture, our traditions, our books, our literature, to those living there.
“We’re going to transform the way of participating in books fairs, in a way that’s going to be very hard for whoever comes after us [as guest of honour] to compete with us.”
Closer to home, Al Ameri says plans are well under way for next year’s Sharjah fair, hinting at an extended English-language roster that is likely to attract an increasingly international audience.
“I promise you, next year will be an amazing year,” says Al Ameri, “especially for the English people”.
rgarratt@thenational.ae
