The Arab World takes the spotlight at The London Book Fair 2008
The London Book Fair is proud to host an array of events and seminars to tie into its Arab World Market Focus 2008 programme. The Market Focus initiative is targeted at boosting trade with one particular region, with the ultimate aim of helping to build long term business partnerships and trade between the international publishing community and the Market Focus region, which this year is the Arab World (defined as the 20 countries and the 2 states that make up the Arab League and have Arabic as their registered official language).
This is the largest Market Focus programme ever run by The London Book Fair and has been three years in the making. It was devised with the British Council and the programme is the result of collaborative efforts of the past few years.
The selection of the Arab World as Market Focus is timely, with statistics showing strong trade growth in this area. In 2006 UK exports alone to the Middle East/North Africa increased by 13.3% to total £91 million, the largest increase from any region of the world, according to the UK Publishing Industry Statistics Yearbook (© PA 2007). Combined with a market of some 300 million potential readers, the Arab World represents a vast trading bloc full of potential to the international community. The London Book Fair will provide a forum to build cultural and commercial bridges with this region, and will showcase the richness and diversity of Arab literature.
The London Book Fair is honoured to announce that the opening event of the Fair will feature
H. E. Mr Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, who will give the keynote speech at the Chairman’s Breakfast on Monday 14th April. This will be on the subject of “Arabic Partnerships: Opportunities and Complexities”. This will be followed by a tour of the Fair and a press briefing. Mr Moussa was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs in Egypt, and became Secretary General in 2001. He was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Nile, Egypt, May 2001 and the Order of the Two Niles, first class, Sudan 2001. He has received high Decorations from Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina & the German Federation.
Many new stands have been taken at this year’s Fair by exhibitors from the Arab World including:
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (Translation scheme, UAE)
Cambridge-Obeikan (Publisher, Saudi Arabia)
Ministry of Information, Culture & National Heritage (Bahrain)
Dar Al Saqi Lebanon (Publisher)
Nahdet Misr Publishing & Printing (Egypt)
Basemah Al-Failakawi (Kuwait)
Ministry of Heritage and Culture, Oman
National Council for Culture Arts and Heritage - Doha
Ministry of Culture Youth & Development (UAE)
Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage
Ministry of Culture, Lebanon
Jordanian Publishers Association
General Egyptian Book Organisation
The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
Dar Al Shorouk (Publisher, Egypt)
Motivate Publishing (UAE) Cont./
Other key Market Focus features include:
Alaa Al Aswany, the bestselling Egyptian author of The Yacoubian Building, will be Author of the Day on Tuesday 15th April. Born in 1957 he is a dentist by profession, and for many years practiced in the real Yacoubian Building in Cairo. He has written prolifically for Egyptian newspapers on politics, literature and social issues. He has been a strong campaigner for the need for free press and rule of law.
Forty Arab authors will be attending the Fair and taking part in an extensive seminar and events programme, organised in conjunction with the British Council. Participants include Rajaa Alsanea, Saudi author of The Girls of Riyadh, Jordanian writer Elias Farkouh and Khaled Al Khamissi, author of Taxi Stories.
Literary Café interviews will take place with Mourid Barghouti, the Palestinian Poet; Bahaa Taher, the winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction; and Egyptian author Khaled Al Khamissi.
A series of events aimed at facilitating trade between international and Arab publishers will take place including: Copyright and Publishing Contracts in the Arab Countries (hosted by ALECSO), Reviving Translation in the Arab World (hosted by Kalima) and Children’s Publishing in the Arab World (hosted by Oxford Brookes University)
A collection of Qur’ans and Arabic manuscripts from the 8th to the 19th century AD will be on display, kindly provided by the Khalili Collection. Professor Nasser D Khalili has been collecting art since 1970 and has assembled impressive art collections in a broad range of fields, including one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in private hands which comprises some 20,000 items.
Launch of the first ever Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature – 11.00am Tuesday 15th April in the Piccadilly Room.
Press conference for Beirut as World Book Capital 2009 – 11.30am Tuesday 15th April at stand H905.
A Mezze bar selling Arabic food, featuring The London Book Fair / Banipal Display of Modern Arab Literature. This is a collection of fiction (novels and short stories), poetry and memoir by Arab authors, which have either been translated into English, or written in English. The display is designed for booksellers and librarians to show what is on offer from the Arab World in English, and also to encourage more translations from Arabic or French or other languages, into English and other languages.
An Arab Authors Evening at Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road takes place on Monday 14th at 6.30pm. The panel will be chaired by Dedi Feldman from Words Without Borders, and will include Alaa Al Aswany with Khaled Mattawa and Hisham Matar. It will be a general discussion about Arab writing and will include a Q&A with the public. The event is free.
Emma House, Exhibition Manager International Development, The London Book Fair says: “I’m delighted that we have put together such an impressive range of events and other initiatives to mark the Arab World as Market Focus 2008. I have found the experience of forming business partnerships with people from the Arab World and discovering more about its literature extremely rewarding, and I’m sure this experience will be shared by everyone attending The London Book Fair. I have always had a warm welcome wherever I have travelled in the Arab World, and I am pleased to be able to offer the same hospitality to our Arab visitors. There is clearly great interest from Arab publishers in attending The London Book Fair and grasping potential commercial opportunities. I hope this will lay the foundation for many fruitful business partnerships for the future.”
British Council Director of Literature, Susanna Nicklin, says: ”Improving cultural understanding is the driver behind the Arab World seminar programme, while the backdrop of the fair provides the crucial business networking opportunities to complement that. The ultimate aim is to create relationships between organizations, people and countries. The result could be more Arabic books translated for the UK market and more Western works reaching Arab readers, giving people the opportunity to read what others have written and engendering more acceptance and understanding between our communities.“
The London Book Fair has already been involved in initiatives to open up the Arab World to the benefits of international trade with publishers. The team have been working closely with the British Council, which has been instrumental in building relationships with the region. This has included joint trips to book fairs in Damascus, Sharjah and Cairo to help facilitate contacts between British and Arab publishers, and to introduce them to the mutual benefits of trade.
Contact Details
For further information about The London Book Fair Market Focus 2008 please contact Amelia Rowland at Midas Public Relations on + 44 (0)20 7590 0813 or email Amelia.Rowland@midaspr.co.uk
Notes:
THE LONDON BOOK FAIR
The London Book Fair is the global publishing community’s leading spring forum for booksellers, publishers and librarians worldwide. Ideally timed to provide a concentrated 3 day trading and educational platform it gives all visitors and exhibitors access to the world’s books, real business contacts and shared knowledge. It provides everything that is required to compete effectively in today’s fast-paced marketplace.
THE MARKET FOCUS
The Market Focus programme, now in its fifth year, was first created in 2004 for LBF to draw attention to certain countries and highlight the trade links with this territory, its publishing industry and the opportunities for conducting business with the rest of the world. In the first year of the initiative, the countries highlighted were Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, followed in 2005 by Australia and New Zealand, in 2006 by Mexico and in 2007, Spain.
THE BRITISH COUNCIL
The British Council works in 110 countries and territories worldwide to build intercultural understanding between the UK and other countries through the arts, education and training, science and technology and governance. Our income in 2006/07 was £551m, of which grant-in-aid from the British government was £195m. For more information about the British Council's Literature department, please visit: http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature
The British Council opened its first overseas operations in the Middle East, Near East and North Africa in Egypt in 1938 and now has 27 offices/centres across the region .
This is the largest Market Focus programme ever run by The London Book Fair and has been three years in the making. It was devised with the British Council and the programme is the result of collaborative efforts of the past few years.
The selection of the Arab World as Market Focus is timely, with statistics showing strong trade growth in this area. In 2006 UK exports alone to the Middle East/North Africa increased by 13.3% to total £91 million, the largest increase from any region of the world, according to the UK Publishing Industry Statistics Yearbook (© PA 2007). Combined with a market of some 300 million potential readers, the Arab World represents a vast trading bloc full of potential to the international community. The London Book Fair will provide a forum to build cultural and commercial bridges with this region, and will showcase the richness and diversity of Arab literature.
The London Book Fair is honoured to announce that the opening event of the Fair will feature
H. E. Mr Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, who will give the keynote speech at the Chairman’s Breakfast on Monday 14th April. This will be on the subject of “Arabic Partnerships: Opportunities and Complexities”. This will be followed by a tour of the Fair and a press briefing. Mr Moussa was previously Minister for Foreign Affairs in Egypt, and became Secretary General in 2001. He was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Nile, Egypt, May 2001 and the Order of the Two Niles, first class, Sudan 2001. He has received high Decorations from Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina & the German Federation.
Many new stands have been taken at this year’s Fair by exhibitors from the Arab World including:
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (Translation scheme, UAE)
Cambridge-Obeikan (Publisher, Saudi Arabia)
Ministry of Information, Culture & National Heritage (Bahrain)
Dar Al Saqi Lebanon (Publisher)
Nahdet Misr Publishing & Printing (Egypt)
Basemah Al-Failakawi (Kuwait)
Ministry of Heritage and Culture, Oman
National Council for Culture Arts and Heritage - Doha
Ministry of Culture Youth & Development (UAE)
Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage
Ministry of Culture, Lebanon
Jordanian Publishers Association
General Egyptian Book Organisation
The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
Dar Al Shorouk (Publisher, Egypt)
Motivate Publishing (UAE) Cont./
Other key Market Focus features include:
Alaa Al Aswany, the bestselling Egyptian author of The Yacoubian Building, will be Author of the Day on Tuesday 15th April. Born in 1957 he is a dentist by profession, and for many years practiced in the real Yacoubian Building in Cairo. He has written prolifically for Egyptian newspapers on politics, literature and social issues. He has been a strong campaigner for the need for free press and rule of law.
Forty Arab authors will be attending the Fair and taking part in an extensive seminar and events programme, organised in conjunction with the British Council. Participants include Rajaa Alsanea, Saudi author of The Girls of Riyadh, Jordanian writer Elias Farkouh and Khaled Al Khamissi, author of Taxi Stories.
Literary Café interviews will take place with Mourid Barghouti, the Palestinian Poet; Bahaa Taher, the winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction; and Egyptian author Khaled Al Khamissi.
A series of events aimed at facilitating trade between international and Arab publishers will take place including: Copyright and Publishing Contracts in the Arab Countries (hosted by ALECSO), Reviving Translation in the Arab World (hosted by Kalima) and Children’s Publishing in the Arab World (hosted by Oxford Brookes University)
A collection of Qur’ans and Arabic manuscripts from the 8th to the 19th century AD will be on display, kindly provided by the Khalili Collection. Professor Nasser D Khalili has been collecting art since 1970 and has assembled impressive art collections in a broad range of fields, including one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art in private hands which comprises some 20,000 items.
Launch of the first ever Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature – 11.00am Tuesday 15th April in the Piccadilly Room.
Press conference for Beirut as World Book Capital 2009 – 11.30am Tuesday 15th April at stand H905.
A Mezze bar selling Arabic food, featuring The London Book Fair / Banipal Display of Modern Arab Literature. This is a collection of fiction (novels and short stories), poetry and memoir by Arab authors, which have either been translated into English, or written in English. The display is designed for booksellers and librarians to show what is on offer from the Arab World in English, and also to encourage more translations from Arabic or French or other languages, into English and other languages.
An Arab Authors Evening at Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road takes place on Monday 14th at 6.30pm. The panel will be chaired by Dedi Feldman from Words Without Borders, and will include Alaa Al Aswany with Khaled Mattawa and Hisham Matar. It will be a general discussion about Arab writing and will include a Q&A with the public. The event is free.
Emma House, Exhibition Manager International Development, The London Book Fair says: “I’m delighted that we have put together such an impressive range of events and other initiatives to mark the Arab World as Market Focus 2008. I have found the experience of forming business partnerships with people from the Arab World and discovering more about its literature extremely rewarding, and I’m sure this experience will be shared by everyone attending The London Book Fair. I have always had a warm welcome wherever I have travelled in the Arab World, and I am pleased to be able to offer the same hospitality to our Arab visitors. There is clearly great interest from Arab publishers in attending The London Book Fair and grasping potential commercial opportunities. I hope this will lay the foundation for many fruitful business partnerships for the future.”
British Council Director of Literature, Susanna Nicklin, says: ”Improving cultural understanding is the driver behind the Arab World seminar programme, while the backdrop of the fair provides the crucial business networking opportunities to complement that. The ultimate aim is to create relationships between organizations, people and countries. The result could be more Arabic books translated for the UK market and more Western works reaching Arab readers, giving people the opportunity to read what others have written and engendering more acceptance and understanding between our communities.“
The London Book Fair has already been involved in initiatives to open up the Arab World to the benefits of international trade with publishers. The team have been working closely with the British Council, which has been instrumental in building relationships with the region. This has included joint trips to book fairs in Damascus, Sharjah and Cairo to help facilitate contacts between British and Arab publishers, and to introduce them to the mutual benefits of trade.
Contact Details
For further information about The London Book Fair Market Focus 2008 please contact Amelia Rowland at Midas Public Relations on + 44 (0)20 7590 0813 or email Amelia.Rowland@midaspr.co.uk
Notes:
THE LONDON BOOK FAIR
The London Book Fair is the global publishing community’s leading spring forum for booksellers, publishers and librarians worldwide. Ideally timed to provide a concentrated 3 day trading and educational platform it gives all visitors and exhibitors access to the world’s books, real business contacts and shared knowledge. It provides everything that is required to compete effectively in today’s fast-paced marketplace.
THE MARKET FOCUS
The Market Focus programme, now in its fifth year, was first created in 2004 for LBF to draw attention to certain countries and highlight the trade links with this territory, its publishing industry and the opportunities for conducting business with the rest of the world. In the first year of the initiative, the countries highlighted were Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, followed in 2005 by Australia and New Zealand, in 2006 by Mexico and in 2007, Spain.
THE BRITISH COUNCIL
The British Council works in 110 countries and territories worldwide to build intercultural understanding between the UK and other countries through the arts, education and training, science and technology and governance. Our income in 2006/07 was £551m, of which grant-in-aid from the British government was £195m. For more information about the British Council's Literature department, please visit: http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-literature
The British Council opened its first overseas operations in the Middle East, Near East and North Africa in Egypt in 1938 and now has 27 offices/centres across the region .
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