Witnesses to the UAE’s Guest of Honor agreement with São Paulo International Book Fair agreement at Frankfurt this week include, from left, Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi; Karine Mansa, Brazil Publishers Chamber (CBL) international director; Mansur Bassit, CBL executive director; Alfredo Weisflog, CBL council member; Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi; Luis Torelli, CBL president; Luiz Alvaro Salles Aguiar de Meneze, CBL international affairs manager; Ali Al Ahmed, UAE ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany; and Ahmed Al Ameri, Sharjah Book Authority chairman. Image: Provided by Emirates Publishers Association
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Two of The Markets’ Seven Regions
During Frankfurt Book Fair, the United Arab Emirates’ state of Sharjah has been named Guest of Honor at the 2018 São Paulo International Book Fair. The connection involves two markets, Brazil and the UAE, that were involved in the B00k Fair’s conference on Tuesday (October 18), The Markets: Global Publishing Summit.The announcement was made during a Book Fair week visit to Frankfurt by Sharjah ruler Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi and the Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, Kalimat Group’s founding publisher and honorary president of the Emirates Publishers Association.
The UAE-Brazil partnership follows a trade mission led in August to Sao Paulo by Bodour.
In a prepared statement, Luis Antonio Torelli, President of the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL), is quoted as saying, “After so many years it is very important to the Brazilian Book Chamber to foster and strengthen international relationships at the São Paulo International Book Fair. This recovery, so special to us, would have to be with a guest of honor who could reawaken the passion, fascination and excitement in our publishers and Brazilian readers.’
“We have found all of those elements in the emirate of Sharjah, one of the most important cultural hubs in the Middle East and across the Arab world.”
Sharjah’s international book fair is coming up, running November 2-12, is the third largest book fair in the world, with more than 1,500 participating publishing houses and 1,500,000 titles on display.
The publishing trade relationship between Latin America and the Arab world, according to United Nations figures cited by Sharjah’s representatives, is reflected in the UAE making up 83 percent of Arab world exports, or some US$861,650.
Amazon Publishing Announces New Strobel Novel
Speaking at Frankfurt Book Fair’s Business Club on Friday (October 21), Amazon Publishing Europe chief Dominic Myers has announced that best-selling German writer Arno Strobel–author of Der Spiegel bestsellers including Der Sarg and Der Trakt–will be writing his first novel for Amazon Publishing.
The book is based on the script for the eagerly awaited debut German Amazon Original series, You Are Wanted, which will premiere on the video streaming service Amazon Prime Video in Germany in spring 2017.
The novel of the same name is to be published in spring 2017 under Edition M, the Amazon Publishing imprint for German-language crime and thriller fiction.
In a prepared statement, Strobel is quoted saying, “Being a part of the You Are Wanted launch has been one of the most exciting projects for me so far. Working directly with the creators, authors and actors of the Amazon Original series during the shoot gave me deep insights into the production, and it is inspirational.”
And for his part, Myers is quoted saying, “Arno Strobel’s You Are Wanted novel gives fans the chance to delve deeper into the story and get to know other facets of the characters from the TV series.”
In addition to the television series and Strobel’s novel, there’s also to be an audio version of the You Are Wanted book released by Audible with narration by Dietmar Wunder, the German voice of Daniel Craig as James Bond.