SIBF daily news • Issue 11 • Saturday 11 November 2017

SIBF 2017:New heights

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BY OUR REPORTER

The Alter Trio from Poland brought move-ment in the Sharjah International Book

Fair 2017 lobby to near standstill, thanks to their mind-blowing acrobatic skills. Visitors of all ages encircled the phenomenal trio as

they showcased one mind-blowing stunt af-ter another. Backflips, connected flips, and precise jumps dominated the performance, which made the audience ohh and aah. Many a visitor took to their gadgets to document the thrilling show.

BY OUR REPORTER

Which youngster does not fancy appearing in a photo dressed

like their favourite movie character? If this question was posed to kids,

the answer would be, “all of us”, in unison. The entertainment photo booth, made this wish harboured by many a youngster come true. The booth was swarmed by the jol-

ly youngsters waiting for their turn

for the memorable Kodak Moment.

Many could be seen punching the

air after fulfilling their wish.

Acrobatics enthral visitors Youngsters flock photo booth

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BY OUR REPORTER

The fact that Islam as a religion cannot be divorced from the

centuries of Ottoman rule of Mus-lims, Turkey remains one of the fa-vourite destinations for the faithful keen on learning the country’s ex-perience. The Turkish exhibitors Envar Nesri-yat (Hall 2, EE26); Sozler Publica-tions (Hall 2, F23) and Hasimi Yay-inevi (Hall 2, G18) –despite being only three, have not disappointed in this regard. Abdulrahman Cemiloglu of Envar, for example, is specialised in print-ing “special editions of the Holy Quran.” They bear symmetrical

mentioning of names of Allah (ei-ther in the same vertical lines when on the same page or when on op-posite pages, they face each or one another upon folding.” “We call this symmetry ‘Taufiqaat’,” explains Cemiloglu. “It is eye-catch-ing as it is special.” The top priced is at Dhs1,200, while the cheapest is at Dhs50. We have run out of books,” says the exhibitor. “We had a forest of them here, but they are on high demand.” Sozler Publications has books in both Arabic and English. Some are philosophical, while others are purely religious. Among the religio-philosophical books is Bediuzza-

man Said’s “Nursi’s Risale-I Nur”.

Sozler’s Assistant Director, Ahmet

Ates, shows this reporter a collec-

tion of Risale-I Nur titled; “Nature:

Cause or Effect?” It has irresistible

topical letters like, “A Dispute with

The Devil.”

The Hasimi (Hashimi) stand is

stocked with hundreds of religious

titles, and their catalogue reads

availability of books in Arabic, Turki

and Kurdish languages. “Our motto

explains it all: ‘Let us Keep our Her-

itage,’” says its representative, Se-

dat Sunduvac.

BY OUR REPORTER

Sharjah Public Library (SPL), a subsidiary of Sharjah Book

Authority (SBA), has launched the ‘Digital Public Library.’ The initia-tive aims to bring together all cul-tural items held in Sharjah’s librar-ies, museums, heritage sites and other state departments and make them available to a larger segment of readers, researchers and book lovers from around the world.The project, which was announced during SPL’s participation in the 36th edition of Sharjah Internation-al Book Fair, seeks to provide free access to digital holdings through the establishment of a large-scale

digital public library that will be a key search engine for the public holdings of libraries, museums and other cultural heritage institu-tions in the UAE and in particular, Sharjah.Sara Al Marzouqi, Manager of SPL, underscored that the launching of the Digital Public Library aims to harness technol-ogies to further the prosperous cultural environment in Sharjah and the UAE by providing the content of all cultural and intel-lectual institutions at one site that is available 24-hours a day and accessible from across the world.

BY OUR REPORTER

The ‘Books – Made in UAE’ project, organised by the UAE

Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, has inspired 10 Emirati authors to rewrite a number of folk tales for children.The 18 heritage-themed stories mark the conclusion of the sec-ond phase of the sixth edition of the programme, which was held November 4-6 at Maraya Art Centre. The various editions of the initiative support the develop-ment of a sustainable local chil-dren’s book industry by training

young and aspiring authors and illustrators in the creative pro-cess of producing Emirati chil-dren’s books.This year’s edition of the ‘Books – Made in UAE’ project focused on folk tales, with the aim of reviving Emirati folk tales and highlighting the UAE’s rich heritage and au-thentic customs. The first phase of the sixth edition, sponsored by Knowledge without Borders, a Sharjah-based cultural initiative, was hosted at Sharjah Institute for Heritage.The authors put together a collec-tion of 18 stories inspired by Emi-rati folklore.

BY OUR REPORTER

The ‘1001 Titles’ initiative, a subsidiary of Sharjah-based

cultural initiative Knowledge with-out Borders (KwB), organised a book signing event for a number of the titles it has supported in its first phase of producing 1,001 Arabic books in all fields of knowl-edge.Held at its pavilion at the 36th edi-tion of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), the event comprised a host of renowned Arab authors. Author Eyad Abdul Majeed signed ‘Emirati Narratives’, Muhammad Younis signed ‘Renewing the Re-ligious Discourse (Rhetoric) in the

Islamic literature dominates Tu rkish stands

Sharjah Public Library opens ‘Digital Public Library’

UAEBBY inspires Emirati authors to pen kids’ folk tales

‘1001 Titles’ intiati ve hosts book signing cere mony

UAE’, Amal Al Harithi signed ‘Wom-en’s Tales’, and Yasmin Al Ghoul signed ‘Life Is Beautiful’.Child author Shahd Muhammad Abd Rabboh signed her book ‘Tales and Lessons,’ which comprises three stories in Arabic and English.Furthermore, Dr. Ridaa Hourani signed ‘Special Plant for a Happy Occasion,’ a children’s book in-spired by popular Bahraini folk-lore. Noura Ali Naseeb Al Bloushi signed her series of stories ‘Yama Kan’, Khadija Al Housani signed her book ‘Pencil Sharpener,’and Ihsan Musbeh Al Suwaidi signed ‘The Development and Empower-ment of Arab Youth’

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BY OUR REPORTER

Pakistani cricket legend Wasim Akram, who vis-

ited the Sharjah International Book Fair on Thursday be-fore interacting with his ad-mirers and sports enthusiasts at a live chat show, took time to tour the fair and purchased some books. “I enjoyed it because I like reading. I was like a kid in a candy shop,” he said. “I am amazed to see so many young readers, so many kids at the book fair. This shows that people are still interested in books. One thing that I re-ally liked was the cookery show for kids – they were all shouting with excitement. It

was amazing.” Akram, whose autobiogra-phy was published in 1998, said that he is planning to write another book as a lot has happened during the past two decades.“I really want to write some-thing else because a lot of good things have happened since my retirement. My wife Shameera is motivating me to do it. I have to plan it. I don’t want to just write a book about dressing room gossip, I want to write a book that motivates others… a book where people can take inspi-ration from my life’s journey,” he said.Talking about the changes he

has seen as a cricket celeb-rity in terms of technology, he said, “In my time we had autographs, now we have selfies. I still think autographs were better. I also had an au-tograph book as a kid, I col-lected all the names of the cricket greats and that was so much fun.”Akram, who was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 30, is known for raising awareness about the condi-tion in Pakistan and across the world.“We lack awareness about diabetes. It is very important that we raise more aware-ness to be able to fight it,” he said during the session.

BY OUR REPORTER

The advent of computer technology killed many traditional art and the related jobs,

calligraphy was one of them. However, the same technology also opened new vistas for commercial and financial success for those who were ready to adopt the technology. Darussalam Publishers, one of the biggest publishing houses of Islamic books in Arabic, English, Urdu, French and about two dozen other languages is the living example.Abdul Malik Mujahid, who established the Islamic publishing house in 1986 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was a professional calligrapher. Hailing from the famous ‘Kilani family’ which is proudly associated with the art for over 300 years, Mujahid was earning his living from calligraphy. Like other members of the fam-ily, he also used to write the Holy Quran in ‘Nasakh’ script, as well as other Islamic books that used to be scanned and printed.Okasha Mujahid, Managing Director of Darussalam Publishers who is also leading the team at the Sharjah International Book

Fair, said that as the computer technology got introduced into publishing industry, his father, Abdul Malik Mujahid, sensed the difficulties it would pose to the professional calligraphers.“In 1986, my father bought a computer and established the Darussalam Publishers. To-day, the publishing house has the credit of publishing over 1,500 books, including more than 30 translations of the Holy Quran in 26 languages and over 60 books on biography of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH),” he said.“The Holy Quran in Nasakh script, which is popular in India and Pakistan, is still handwrit-ten, which is scanned before printing. Writing the Holy Quran is a job that needs passion and patience. We keep all the manuscripts saved for posterity,” he said.Okasha said he has also learnt calligraphy as he is passionate about the art. “Besides Arabic calligraphy, I have also learnt English calligraphy. I have also studied this art at the National College of Art, Lahore. I practice cal-ligraphy as a form of modern art, which will continue to live,” he added.

Cricket legend feels like a kid at SIBF

Timely transformation key to survival

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BY OUR REPORTER

For the lovers of the printed word, visiting the Sharjah Internation-

al Book Fair (SIBF) 2017 was an exciting experience that surpassed all expectations. It was nothing less than a breath of fresh air. The presence of acclaimed writers, po-ets, actors, chefs, illustrators, so-cial media personalities as well as eminent film stars transformed the

event from being a mere book fair into a complete cultural event.The wide selection of books and re-cord sales was indeed a good sign. It proved that people’s interest in the printed word has not gone down despite growing popularity of elec-tronic gadgets and social media fixation. In fact, it shows that there is a need to organise this fair more frequently.

Dubai-resident Ali Sharif said that the SIBF has become the must-visit book fair for avid readers. He said that he visits the fair annually with his family. This year, he made three visits to the book fair with his children and each of them bought books of their choice.

EXCEPTIONAL BOOK FAIR“This year was special as there

SIBF impresses again with authors, books and culture

was focus on children’s books. The presence of books by local writers and artists made it exceptional,” he said.He said that the children like sto-ry books as well as educational books. One of his sons, Ahmed, was fond of National Geograph-ic series. “Each time we visited, they bought books of their choice. Whereas I guide them on selection of good books, the choice is theirs,” he added.Abbas Raza, who came from the UK, said it was his first visit to the SIBF. “I had heard about this fair during my recent visit to the book

fair in Cairo. Since I am a writer-researcher, I always look for edu-cational books including reference works. The collection is so wide that during the past ten days I have bought over 100 boxes of books. Now shipping all of them to the UK is the task awaiting me,” he said.Muhra Bushra Ibler, a German na-tional, said that she loves good books and has visited several important book fairs including the Frankfurt, Paris and Barcelona book fairs, as well as the literature festival in Dubai. SIBF is one of the best.

VARIED LITERATURE

“This is my second year at the SIBF. It is very well organised. Books are not just from the Arab world but out-side as well. It offers good price and good collection. You get what you want,” she added.Lamar Basem and her brother Mohammad Basem, visitors from Syria, liked the fair for its vast col-lection, offering titles of different genre. “It offered a wide choice, thus I bought books of different nature. Some adventure stories, a few books on geography and a few titles of ‘Yawmiat Mashaghib’ se-ries,” she said.Biju AL from India said that the fair offers all what a reader could ask for – whether you are looking for particular books, presence of no-table publishers or authors and ex-perts sharing their experiences at seminars.“This was my first visit. I am aston-ished. Thanks to my children, who came from school and then visited again with me,” he said, adding that he will be eagerly waiting for the next edition of the Sharjah Interna-tional Book Fair.