By Mohammed Jalal Al Rayssi, Director-General of the Emirates News Agency (WAM) ABU DHABI, “Those of us who enjoy reading in the Emirate of Sharjah are very keen to create a reading community and promote the benefits of reading among children. For that reason we provide the best, most suitable books for all the family. We believe that books must be available to all and from this concept we turn book fairs into an oasis of knowledge and enlightenment.”
This was the message of H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, during the launch of the 40th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), which was inaugurated by Sheikh Sultan yesterday under the theme ‘There’s always a right book’, featuring 1,632 Arab and foreign publishers and 85 writers and artists from different countries, marking 40 years of giving in the fields of culture, literature and knowledge development.
One of the world’s largest book fairs, the event, which was launched in the presence of H.H. Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, at the Expo Centre Sharjah, is of great significance being a literary and cultural platform that brings together writers, intellectuals and creative minds from around the world in Sharjah, the capital of culture and science, where they properly recognised by the patron of culture, H.H. the Ruler of Sharjah.
SIBF is a large-scale cultural project that sees further growth with every edition. One can argue that its most important achievement is narrating works of Arab literature, translated in all languages, o showcase before people from around the world the creations of the Arab world’s writers, thinkers and poets.
Since 2011, Sharjah has been supporting the convergence between Arab culture and other cultures of the world through SIBF’s Translation Grant, which received 16,490 translation requests from and into Arabic, of which 1,493 books were published in an unprecedented initiative to support creativity.
Marking this occasion, the Ruler of Sharjah, who is also the Supreme President of the Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah, released the first 17 volumes of the Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language – the first-of-its-kind project in the history of the Arab world to chronicle 17 centuries of development in the Arabic language.
The launch of the first 17 volumes of this unprecedented publication crowned four decades of tireless efforts and diligence, under the directives of H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan, to ensure that SIBF maintains its status as an incubator of culture and science and a creative space where intellectuals and writers compete through showcasing their new products.
With this, Sharjah continues to serve as a beacon of knowledge and a haven for science and culture for people in the UAE, the region and the world.
Source: Emirates News Agency