Meet authors of the UAE's first Japanese-style manga



DUBAI // The UAE's first Japanese-style manga was in the spotlight yesterday at a book signing in Dubai.

Gold Ring, a story about an Emirati teen who trains falcons, has been out for four years and has since developed a cult following among both Arabic and English-speaking teenagers in the UAE.

It was written by Emirati Qais Sedki and drawn by Akira Himekawa - the collective pen name of two Japanese artists A Honda and S Nagano - who were behind the acclaimed Zelda manga series.

All three appeared in Dubai Mall's Kinokuniya book store yesterday to meet fans and sign copies of the books.

"I've had a few kids come up to me and say that they want to have a falcon," said Mr Sedki. "That's exactly what I was looking for. It's very heartwarming."

The purpose of publishing the book was to encourage local children to read classical Arabic, he added.

"A lot of bilinguinal young adults who have the ability to read in English or Arabic, often choose to read in English," he said. "I'm trying to reverse that a little bit by giving them an overnight incentive to use their ability to read in Arabic."

"The reason I set out to do this is to get children reading at a younger age, and to get them to associate something traditional with something cool, like manga."

He said there was a disturbing trend of young Emirati adults shying away from reading.

"They're borderline allergic to it. But they do make an exception for manga. You don't lose any cool points by reading manga."

One of the artists Ms Honda said that there were initially challenges in presenting a culturally appropriate manga.

"This is the first time we did something set in Arab culture, so we had to be really careful about the details," she said. "We couldn't draw a man and a woman in the same scene. It had to be either the husband or children separating them. There was some cultural differences there."

Akira Himekawa and Mr Sedki will also be at the Abu Dhabi International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition later this week, where they will present a Japanese twist on the traditional sport of falconry.

Faisal al Remeithi, 29, from Abu Dhabi, said many Emiratis were interested in Japanese culture through anime and manga.

"For 30 years we've been watching Japanese animation on our TVs, but dubbed into Arabic," he said. "Most of us have been watching it since we were children, so this is interesting for us now.

"It's good to have our own manga, and it's important that people read it in Arabic, because that's this country's main language."

Manga fan Johnathan Brewer, 23, originally from the US, said he was impressed by Gold Ring. "I've read a few pages and it seems pretty cool," he said. "As a kid I loved falcons so that's a draw for me.

"It does seem like a good mix of cultures. Manga is a great way about learning of other people and places."

mcroucher@thenational.ae

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

 

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

 

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

 

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
match info

Maratha Arabians 138-2

C Lynn 91*, A Lyth 20, B Laughlin 1-15

Team Abu Dhabi 114-3

L Wright 40*, L Malinga 0-13, M McClenaghan 1-17

Maratha Arabians won by 24 runs

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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