Sharjah’s Book City launch approaches

A year on from the announcement of the creation of Sharjah’s Book City, Ahmed Al Ameri, director of Sharjah Book Fair and chairman of the Sharjah Book Authority, said the plans were “going well”. He indicated that it will launch this year, though he did not reveal a date.

Speaking at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), which took place from 20th– 30th April, Al Ameri said Book City would be a “book hub for publishers, printers and authors to gather in one place”. He said that, owing to the amount of international interest, a waiting list for office space will be set up in the next few weeks.

Al Ameri predicted that Book City “will be the most important thing in the world for publishers soon”, because Sharjah will then have a printing press that will offer similar prices to those offered by Chinese printers. Shipping to European publishers could take up to 20 days off delivery times compared to China; and the region will not enforce censorship on material, other than pornography. Al Ameri also pointed out that the location of Book City was “important logistically”, with both Dubai International Airport and Sharjah International Airport nearby.

Al Ameri estimated that around 7,000 visitors attended this year’s SCRF, for which the “first virtual reality book in the world” was created, a 360-degree experience with an added Q&A element (in Arabic and English) adapted from Baba Zayed, a non-fiction title from Sharjah- based publisher Kalimat.