The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT Abu Dhabi) participated in the 28th New Delhi World Book Fair in India earlier this month, pursuant to India being Guest of Honour at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair in 2019.
MENAFN reports that there were at New Delhi,
a series of meetings with Indian publishers and industry specialists, providing details about the 2020 edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (April 15-21).
The DCT Abu Dhabi delegation met Ramesh Mittal, Chairman of CAPEXIL, a council set up by the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to encourage Indian publishers to participate in international book fairs. The parties discussed various avenues of collaboration, presenting numerous ideas for collaborative projects.
Abdulla Majed Al Ali, Acting Executive Director of the National Library Sector at DCT Abu Dhabi and Director of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) said,
We are very pleased that the ADIBF continues to see an increase in interest from publishers in India and other Asian countries, who are realising the wealth of opportunities available for them in the UAE and the Arab World.
We find that more and more publishers are keen to sell their copyrights and translate their works into Arabic, which DCT Abu Dhabi’s ‘Spotlight on Rights’ initiative supports by exchanging book rights for a subsidy.
While the Emirates tend to dominate Arab literary news, the entire Arab region across MENA is experiencing an unprecedented literary renaissance.
As this post goes live Egypt’s Cairo International Book Fair is just kicking off, and there’s little doubt it will retain its title as the world’s biggest book fair by visitor numbers.
Last year saw record-breaking book fair attendance across the region, from Morocco in the west to Saudi Arabia in the east, and as reported here at TNPS yesterday, IPA Vice President Bodour Al Qasimi will be making a keynote speech at the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature on the need for data gathering across the regions book markets.
Recent TNPS coverage of Abu Dhabi’s blossoming literary scene includes:
