With programming for adult and children’s markets, the nine-day Emirate Airline festival in Dubai faces both the Arab world and internationalism.
In the UAE: Sharjah Publishing City, Kinokuniya Bookstores, Library Drones
News from the Sharjah Book Fair: as the Publishing City rises in Sharjah, nearby Dubai gets a smaller Kinokuniya bookstore. And UAE libraries contemplate drone deliveries.
Frankfurt’s The Markets: A Snapshot of the United Arab Emirates
Estimated at a value of €250 million, the UAE’s book industry is among the world’s most intriguing emerging stories, a fast-gainer in the lineup of The Markets: Global Publishing Summit in October at Frankfurt.
In China and the UAE Book Fairs Civilize Business-Minded Metropolises
This article is part of a series on publishing in the Middle East which is sponsored by the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. By Edward Nawotka To most people around the world when you say the word “Frankfurt” the first association that comes to mind is banking. Of course, in publishing if you simply say “Frankfurt,” it conjures up images …
Is the Gulf Becoming Too Westernized?
By Ali Alsaloom The United Arab Emirates has moved from the camel to the Cadillac in a very short amount of time. Where our Bedouin forefathers once lived just to survive another day in the punishing desert climes, we drive air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned malls. So it might seem strange to suggest a return to the camel, yet that is …
What are the Best Practices for Book Festivals?
By Edward Nawotka In today’s lead story and a blog post from yesterday, we discuss five different book festivals taking place across China and the UAE. In the UAE, some 70 authors will appear in Dubai at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature over just three days; a similar number will appear at the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival over …
Book Fest In the Shadow of the World’s Tallest Building
By Edward Nawotka There are certain authors who seem to pop up on nearly every literary festival roster — we’re looking at you Alexander McCall Smith — and it always amazes me how such writers get their work done while spending so much time on the road. Then again, at least in the case of McCall Smith, one wonders how …
Dubai Cancels Children’s Book Fair
By Edward Nawotka Dubai’s financial crisis has led to the cancellation of the inaugural Dubai International Children’s Book Fair. The event had been scheduled to take place February 3-10, 2010, but the event organizers, the Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, announced with “regret” on Friday that the Fair has been “indefinitely postponed.” The Maktoum Foundation, which promoted the Fair …
UAE in NYC for BEA
ABU DHABI: “It is very difficult to get American publishers to come to the United Arab Emirates,” said Beatrice Stauffer, the program manager for Kitab and The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF), “That is why we’re taking our story to New York.” Stauffer is one of dozens of publishing professionals hopping Etihad or Emirates flights to New York for …