Sharjah, (ONA) - The activities of the 39th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair, organized by the Sharjah Book Authority this year under the slogan “The World Reads from Sharjah”, will host an elite group of Arab literati, writers and thinkers, who are creative in various literary and cultural fields. A series of sessions and dialogues will take place online throughout the event, which will be held from 4 to 14 November at the Expo Centre Sharjah.
The exhibition will organize all the accompanying lectures and workshops this year online, through the (Sharjah Reads platform), in line with the precautionary measures taken by the United Arab Emirates to limit the spread of the Coronavirus (Covid-19). At the same time, the exhibition doors will remain open for book lovers to access their favourite titles and visit the publishing houses that will be located during the exhibition.
The guest list this year includes the Algerian novelist Wasseni Al-Araj, who won many prestigious literary awards, including the Sheikh Zayed Book Award - Literature in 2007, and whose novel “The Guardian of Shadows” (Don Quixote in Algeria) was chosen among the five best novels issued in France. He also won the Algerian Novel Award for all his works, which include The Collar of Jasmine, Our Lady of the Shrine, The North Sea Terraces and others.
The exhibition also hosts the Egyptian novelist Ahmed Mourad, one of the most striking voices in the field of fantasy and fantasia writing, and who owns many works that have received great resonance with the readers, the most famous of which is the novel “The Blue Elephant”, which has turned into a cinematic work with the participation of a group of Egyptian stars, and novels. “Diamond Dust” and “God’s Land”, in addition to many other works.
The storyteller Mansoura Ezz El-Din from the Arab Republic of Egypt, who was chosen among the best 39 Arab writers under the age of forty in the Beirut Literary Festival in its 39th session, and also reached the short list of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (Booker) for her work “Beyond Paradise”. She has numerous novels translated into Italian, German, French and English. The Kuwaiti writer and novelist Mishaal Hamad, who has published two novels, “City Remains” and “Perhaps It is Good” also will participate in the event.
The audience of literature and culture will have an appointment with the Iraqi poet and academic Mohsen al-Ramli, who owns more than twenty publications ranging from story, poetry, novel and theater, in addition to many works he translated from different languages, in addition to works that won international awards such as the American Arkansas Prize for the year 2002 for his novel "The Scattered Crumbs”. He is also nominated for the long list of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (Booker) for his novel “Dates of Fingers” in 2010, and “Gardens of the President” in 2013.
From the State of Kuwait, the Book Fair hosts the TV and radio series writer, journalist Ahmad Al-Rifai, who owns four novels and contributed to writing many television and radio works. He is credited with the success of the television program “The Successful Broadcaster”, which is considered one of the most important training programs in the State of Kuwait.
From the Sultanate, the writer and academic Dr. Saeed Al-Siyabi, author of the book “A chapter in the book The Omani Neighborhood Dialogues: An Electronic Chat on Omani Culture,” and the book “The Use of Popular Literature in the Gulf Theatrical Text” will participate this year. The exhibition will also host author and director Lina Khoury, who specializes in communication and theater sciences, and the owner of the play, Haki Niswan (Women’s Talk), along with the Bahraini writer Dalal Abdullah Youssef, author of Dalal Al-Mashaer (Indulgence of Feelings), Taraneem Dalal (Dalal’s Hymns), and Mariam's Cage.
The book fair will also host the Bahraini writer and journalist, Leila Al-Mutawa, who has published her novel “My Heart Is Not for Sale” along with many TV scenarios, including “Your Rib Is Crooked” and “Holes in the White Dress”. The writer also participated in a workshop organized by the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (Booker).
This year, the exhibition will host a group of Emirati cultural figures. The audience will have an appointment with Emirati novelist, poet and critic Sultan Al Amimi, who organizes eloquent and Nabati poetry, and author of the two novels “PO Box 1003” and “One Room Is Not Enough”, in addition to three story collections: “Page 79 of My Memoirs”, “Heaven Entry Apple” and “Elegant Crows”. Many of his stories have been published in Arabic magazines and newspapers, and some of his poems have been translated into English.
Another guest is the poet, novelist and storyteller Fatma Sultan Al Mazrouei, winner of the Al Owais Cultural Award for the year 2013 for her novel “Dark Traps”, in addition to the Sheikha Shamsa bint Suhail Award for Creative Women in the “Literature and Culture” category for the year 2013. Al Mazrouei has published many works in the fields of poetry, theater, story and novel, including “Sharp Angle”, “Something Wrong” and others.
Fathia Al-Nimr, a member of the UAE Writers Union, will participate in the exhibition. She has published a number of works, including “The Moon Has Another Side”, “The Window and the Veil”, “Saif” and other works. The exhibition will also be attended by the novelist Nadia Al-Najjar, winner of the Sharjah International Book Fair Award for her novel “The Dal Trilogy", and the Al Owais Award for Creativity in its 26th session in the category of the best children's literature for Emirati children on the story “Voices of the World”.
The book fair audience will have an appointment with novelist and storyteller Iman Al-Youssef, the author of the story collection “Human Faces”, and “A Bird in the Aquarium”, in addition to her novels, “The Sun Guard”, which won first place winner of the Emirates Prize for Fiction for the year 2016, and “The Window That Become Able to See”. Dr. Rehab Al-Kilani, a writer and academic who has authored numerous books in the fields of novel, screenplay, story and academic studies will also be present at the exhibition.
(ONA)