Abu Dhabi International Book Fair kicks off

ADIBF Director, Executive Director of the National Library Juma al-Qubaisi The 24th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) opens Wednesday with a 10 percent increase in the number of participating publishers over last year. The announcement was made yesterday by Juma Al Qubaisi, ADIBF Director and Executive Director of the National Library, a division of Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), at a press conference held in Abu Dhabi.
Running at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from April 30th - May 5th, ADIBF is organised by TCA Abu Dhabi under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
"ADIBF has emerged as an essential professional career stop, which all authors and publishers are keen to make. It is also a significant launch platform for new cultural projects in the publishing industry. Consequently, ADIBF makes a tangible contribution in shaping people's literary awareness in line with TCA Abu Dhabi's vision of sustaining and promoting literary creativity and cultural work in the UAE capital," said Al Qubaisi.
With 100 new exhibitors, a 10 percent increase over last year, the 1,125 exhibitors represent 57 countries, displaying more than 500,000 titles in 33 languages encompassing all genres of literature. Making their ADIBF debut are 120 publishers, including 16 local exhibitors.
The organising committee was overwhelmed with demand for participation, with 98 publishers denied space due to over subscription.
To boost engagement, ADIBF's hosted buyers programme will encourage international exhibitors to visit all the sections of the Fair and acquaint themselves with the facilities and special offers from which they can benefit.
Additionally, a number of targeted networking seminars will be run by a select group of publishers and specialists to discuss practical issues directly related to the publishing industry. Eric Yang, co-chair in the Advisory Committee for Incheon's bid For the UNESCO World Book Capital City 2015, runs a seminar about "International Cooperation in the Age of Digital Publishing". Another seminar focusing on editing Arabic texts to avoid weak compositional structure will be held with the participation of Dr. Phillip Kennedy from the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, translator Samer Abu Hawash, and Abdul Hakim Suleiman from Merit Publishing. Kassem Al Tarras will be discussing the role of International Standard Book Numbering in book proliferation, and a group of publishing professionals, particularly in literature, will offer their advice on how to promote an author whose works have been translated abroad.
Through The Education Chapter programme - aimed at concentrating groups of education experts, publishers, authors, librarians, and teachers - ADIBF will highlight several real life experiences which succeeded in overcoming the challenges of book marketing.
Source: WAM