An unprecedented edition of the 11-day Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) concluded on Saturday, with a number of surprise announcements made over its course and a successful run of its hybrid offline-online format held under the coronavirus pandemic.

The 39th edition of SIBF saw over 80,000 new titles, in addition to older ones, offered on-site at Expo Centre Sharjah by 1,024 publishers from 73 countries. This year, because of the pandemic, some 60 international best-selling authors and leading writers, poets, social media influencers and other personalities took part in talks on the ‘Sharjah Reads’ virtual platform of SIBF 2020, instead of face-to-face on-site sessions.

Pleasant surprises

Surprise announcements at the latest SIBF included the waiver of all rental fees, valued at Dh6 million, for all participating publishers, including those from crises-hit Lebanon; and a Dh10 million order for books from SIBF, in support of the publishing industry in these challenging times. Both directives came from His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who launched SIBF in 1982.

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