Boos, Spivak and Atiq for Abu Dhabi Book Fair

Frankfurt Book Fair president Juergen Boos, Indian feminist critic and literary theorist Gayatri Spivak and Emirati scholar and poet Dr Afra Atiq are among the speakers at this year’s Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.

Germany, the guest of honour country for the second year running, will be bringing writers including Olga Grjasnowa and Judith Schalansky, publishing director of DOM publishers Björn Rosen, and Oliver Hengstenberg, c.e.o. of children’s gaming app company Cribster.

The German pavilion, located on stand 8B05, will feature a delegation of 80 publishers, intellectuals, writers and illustrators, and 35 sessions, along with film screenings. Main events include a discussion titled “Digitisation and the Future of Publishing”, where Dr Nadja Kneissler, publishing director of Delius Klasing and Die Werkstatt, Boos and Iman Ben Chaibah, c.e.o. of Sail Publishing, will consider lessons learnt during the pandemic about the digital side of publishing.

German-Lebanese author Pierre Jarawan will appear in conversation with spoken word poet and scholar Atiq about the respective slam scenes in Germany and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), discussing the legacy of writing for both slam poetry and fiction. 

Spivak will appear alongside other international authors, including Adonis, Homi Bhabha and Muhsin al-Musawi.

The International Congress of Arabic Publishing and Creative Industries will be hosting speakers from Disney+, TikTok, World Bank, Rakuten Kobo and the New York Times.

Celebrations of Arab literary awards and translation grants will also be featured at the fair. Audiences will be able to meet the laureates of the 2022 Sheikh Zayed Book Award at a seminar on 25th May, while the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world, is set to be announced on 22nd May. 

Sessions on women in publishing, rights selling, antiquarian bookselling, the publishing market in the UAE, children’s book illustrations and the rise of Africa futurism will also take place.

“The evolving ADIBF programme will include exciting new additions for 2022 including the inaugural International Congress of Arabic Publishing and Creative Industries and a series of debates,” said Dr Ali bin Tamim, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre.

“We are honoured by the calibre of the literary figures and industry leaders we will be hosting at the 31st edition of the fair and anticipate poignant discussions within these events to create a bridge between the cultures of the West and the East.”

The full programme can be viewed here.