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Why Reading is Better than Cigarettes
I took a long walk through the exhibit hall this afternoon, the final day of the fair, to see if I’d missed anything on previous days. Boy, did I ever: with more than 800 exhibitors in attendance, it takes a concerted effort to see every stand. This afternoon, I was still stumbling upon some great publishing houses I hadn’t visited before today. One of the stands I stopped by was al-Rowad, the Syrian publishing house run by Kassem al-Tarras, who also serves as the director of the ISBN Agency in Syria. Al-Tarras is impressed with the Fair not only because he’s made translation agreements with German publishers in the last few days, but because so many visitors—families, schoolchildren, adults—are buying books. He credits the generous donations from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince, totaling 4 million dirhams distributed in the form of coupons to children and schools, for encouraging children to purchase books at the Fair. “It’s important to get people to read,” he points out. “The coupons encourage them to get into the habit of reading: better they spend their money on that habit than something else, like smoking.” A point well taken, from both a publishing and a medical point of view.
I’ll sign off for now—it’s been a great fair, with lots of good books and fascinating panels, on both the professional and the cultural programs. I hope to see you all at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2011!
–Chip Rossetti
Author Alia Yunis on the KITAB Sofa
ADIBF 2010 is coming to a close in a few hours, but there’s still been a lot to see today: I just got back from a lively discussion with author Alia Yunis, whose first novel, The Night Counter, was published by Random House last summer. Born in the US to Palestinian and Lebanese parents, Yunis spent her childhood in Minnesota, Beirut and Athens, spending some time in Doha before moving to LA to work as a screenwriter for a number of years. A year-and-a-half ago, just as her novel was being published, she moved to Abu Dhabi, where she now teaches film and television at Zayed University. Not surprisingly, she said she never feels culture shock. The book has been very successful, apparently, and so far has been published (or soon will be published) in German, Norwegian, and French.
The Night Counter puts an interesting twist on the story of Shehrezade from 1001 Nights: in the novel, Shehrezade isn’t telling stories, but is listening to the tales of an old Lebanese-American woman named Fatima, who has ten days left to live. The narrative revolves around Fatima and her very dysfunctional extended Arab-American family over the course of ten days, with Shehrezade listening in the whole time. Coming from a background in screenwriting, she found her experience in Hollywood very helpful in writing the book: “Screenplays are formulaic by nature, and as a screenwriter, you have to work within that formula,” she says. “That training helps you to structure stories, and keeps you disciplined when writing fiction.”
What I found most interesting was the reception she said her novel has had: surprisingly, despite its subject, Yunis said she’s had very few responses from her fellow Arab-Americans, although plenty of other readers have written to her to tell her they recognize their own families in the story of Fatima and her offspring. In any case, like many authors, she is reluctant to have her work pigeonholed simply as “ethnic fiction.” She also assumed her book would appeal most to a female audience, but has been surprised to discover how many of her readers are male, at least based on the emails she’s received from readers.
One of the reasons the discussion was so enjoyable was that so many people in the audience had read the book and were genuinely interested to hear her talk about her work and what role her screenwriting background played in her writing. At the moment, she is writing a screenplay and finishing a YA novel, although she also has plans for another adult novel (“something totally different”). I’m looking forward to reading The Night Counter myself, once the fair is over and I’m back home.
–Chip Rossetti
A Chef Smorgasbord
Among the features of the past Fairs has been the inclusion of a demonstration kitchen run by the kindly people of the Gourmand Book Awards. It’s easily among the most internationally diverse forums at ADIBF. There’s the administrators — Bo and K.C., both Swedes, and the chefs: Chakall from Argentina/Portugal/Germany; Chef Wan, from Malaysia — who has just received the honorific of “Datuk,” which is the Malaysian equivalent of “Sir,” Chef Salma Hussein from India (who dances and cooks at the same time); and UAE TV cooking show star Suzanna Hussein. What’s more, it’s perhaps the only time at a book fair when you’ve had three different ambassadors cooking for the crowd, in this case, Switzerland Turkey, Argentina and the UN Representative to the UAE. Talk about a smorgasbord. –Edward Nawotka
Now That’s a Big Bookstore (and a Really Big Building)!
There are bigger one’s at the ADIBF — Jarir and the Abu Dhabi University Bookstore are two that come to mind — but the biggest single bookstore in the UAE is Kinokuniya at the Dubai Mall. This colossal store, which comes in at 68,000 sq.-ft. is three-times larger than so called “superstores” popular in the United States. The total stock surpasses half a million books, one thousand magazines, all in six languages: Arabic, English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German.During a quick shopping trip to Dubai last night, I would have loved to have had the chance to stop in (I love the Kinokuniya in New York City), but we stopped a bit short, popping into the Mall of the Emirates instead, where there was a much smaller outlet of Borders. We did nevertheless drive further down Sheikh Zayed Road to cruise past the new Burj Khalifa — the tallest building in the world, at 2625 feet (800 meters) and 160 stories. It looked, the fog shrouding Dubai last night, otherwordly — like something out of a sci-fi movie, a rocket ship awaiting lift off to another world. –Edward Nawotka
ADIBF and the Future of Book Culture
“In the near future, Abu Dhabi will be the cultural center for the region,” was the main point that Jumaa Al Qubaisi, the Director of ADIBF, got across during a final round-up meeting about this year’s fair.
This ambition reflects not only the success of the 2010 version of the Book Fair, and the prospects for next year, but takes into account all of the varied activities that are going on in the region, from the Abu Dhabi Library to the Abu Dhabi Literature and Publishers Club to United Printing and Publishing–all of which are geared at getting people to read.
Over the past four years, the ADIBF has grown immensely, with this year being the largest yet. More than 800 exhibitors attended the 2010 Fair, and the floorspace was 30% larger than it was in 2009. On Friday, more than 42,000 visitors flooded the aisles, taking in all of the various displays and all of the cultural events.
There’s a lot more to explore at the fair in addition to the KITAB Sofa conversations and the Discussion Forum. Kids crowded into the Children’s Corner (wehre the KITAB Mobile Reading Bus is also on display) to see puppet shows, hear stories, and read while lounging on a pile of bean bags. Not that far away was the incredibly popular Show Kitchen, where celebrity chefs from around the world demonstrated how to prepare and serve a variety of foods.
The Ezone, which is new to this year’s fair, is giving the regional industry to the latest develops in the digitial world, from ebooks to print-on-demand, and a series of workshops on how to harness digital opportunities.
Each of these programs is pretty spectacular on its own, but taken as a whole it’s clear that this is just part of a much grander general initiative to transform Abu Dhabi into the new publishing hub for the Gulf Region. The ADIBF is only part of this overall goal, which has two major tracks: the professionalization of the publishing industry and the cultivation of the Arab book culture.
On the professional side, the announcement of the creation of Abu Dhabi Distribution–an innovative new distribution company for Arabic titles–in of monumental importance and will most definitely improve the flow of Arabic literature throughout the entire Arab World.
In terms of the social side of thigns, the Abu Dhabi Literature and Publishing Club is one of the most exciting new programs that was launched at the Fair. Throughout the year, this club will host a variety of professional and public programs, including publisher trainings, conferences on architecture, and conversations with world-famous authors.
During this final press conference, Khalid al Dhaheri, the manager of technical service for the Abu Dhabi Library, explained the incredible developments going on in this arena to get books into the hands of as many Abu Dhabi readers as possible. The National Library Initiative is centered around the idea of creating a social learning space and incorporating all different ways of interacting with the written word, from audio and e-books (the Library’s digitization project deserves an article of its own), to mobile libraries and high-tech library vending kiosks.
As ADIBF Managing Director Monika Krauss mentioned, “the content takes precedence over the form.” In other words, she’s less worried about the cup, and more concerned with the coffee. Or, put in more plain language–the goal of all these programs is to create great literature and get it in the hands of interested readers by whatever means necessary.
Kalima, the ADIBF, the new Club, the Abu Dhabi Library–put together, it’s quite clear that Abu Dhabi is well on its way to becoming one of the most important hubs in the Arab world for the production, promotion, and consumption of the written word.
–Chad W. Post
Digitizing Diwani
Among the projects being spearheaded by ADACH and the new Abu Dhabi library is an effort to develop the first digitised font in the Diwani style. The font itself is being created by legendary Arabic calligrapher Mohammaed Mandi, who has been on hand at the Fair offering artistic, calligraphic interpretations of people’s names. Seated at a table, with a fistful of colorful markers, he’ll create a one-of-a-kind piece of art for you to take with you. Mr. Mandi’s generosity with his skill seems to be infectious: when approached to do a drawing, the preference seems to be for people to request the name of their wife, child, or husband done, rather than their own, done in his unique calligraphic style. –Edward Nawotka
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