Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) is a

governmental A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

entity, established in 2014 in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. It operates in several sectors, under the literary umbrella; including

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

, book

translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...

, book festivals, and

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

History and development

The SBA was launched in 2014 by an

Emiri decree An amiri decree is a decree, equivalent to a law, made by an emir or his representatives (Arabic: المرسوم الأميري), generally in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Examples are: * Amiri Decree Law No. 13 of 1984 (Bahrain ...

of His Highness Sheikh Dr.

Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi (; born 2 July 1939) is an Emirati royal, politician, author, historian, and the current and 11th ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah and a member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates sin ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of

. SBA participates in all international and regional book fairs like

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: , FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am ...

London Book Fair The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and d ...

Cairo International Book Fair The Cairo International Book Fair is the largest and oldest book fair in the Arab world, held every year in the last week of January in Cairo, Egypt, at Egypt International Exhibitions Center in New Cairo, it is organised by the General Egyptian ...

, to name a few, and hosts numerous campaigns around the year to promote

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and the arts.

Scope of work

SBA leads on several cultural projects and events in the UAE, including Sharjah Publishing City, Sharjah Libraries, Sharjah Children's Reading Festival (SCRF), Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) and Sharjah Book Fair – Translation Grant SBA also organises the Publishers Conference as well as an annual joint conference with the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

. In May 2019, SBA launched a new event call the ''Emirati Book Fair'', aimed at showcasing the literary history of the Persian Gulf region.

Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF)

Sharjah International Book Fair Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) is a major annual literary and publishing event held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. As one of the world's largest book fairs, it hosted 2,033 exhibitors from 109 countries in 2023 and featured a broad ...

is an 11-day international book fair held annually in

. It was first launched in 1982, under the guidance and patronage of His Highness Dr. Sheikh

Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi (; born 2 July 1939) is an Emirati royal, politician, author, historian, and the current and 11th ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah and a member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates s ...

, the

Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. SIBF 2018 hosted 1,874 publishing houses from 77 countries, with 1.6 million titles on display, including 80,000 new titles. The fair welcomed 2.23 million visitors, who had access to 20 million books.

SIBF Translations Grant

Launched in 2011, on the occasion of the 30th annual

, the fund's monetary value is USD 300K. The Sharjah International Book Fair's Translations Grant Fund provides financial assistance to Arab and foreign publishers for the translation of different literary genres such as fiction, memoir, history, cookery, children's stories, adult's stories, poetry, and scientific books.

Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF)

The Sharjah Children's Reading Festival was launched in 2010. Since then, it has grown to become a cultural event aimed at fostering a love of reading among children. The festival features a wide range of activities including workshops, readings, and interactive sessions designed to inspire young minds. The 2024 festival will feature over 1,400 cultural, artistic, and educational activities, with participation from 470 publishers from 75 countries.

References

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External links

Sharjah Book Authority website

Sharjah International Book Fair or Sharjah Book Fair website
2014 establishments in the United Arab Emirates Organizations established in 2014 Organisations based in the Emirate of Sharjah Arts organisations based in the United Arab Emirates Publishing organizations