Sharjah International Book Fair adds Booker Prize winner and Nigerian crime star
▶ Arundhati Roy and Leye Adenle are among the latest draws announced, Saeed Saeed reports
Celebrated Indian novelist and activist Arundhati Roy has been confirmed as a speaker at this year’s Sharjah International Book Fair.
Roy, who won the 1997 Man Booker Prize for her debut novel The God of Small Things, will appear on November 2, during the opening weekend
of the 11-day event. As well as discussing her social activism, she will shed light on how it took her 20 years to write her second novel, The Ministry
of Utmost Happiness, which was longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize.
She will be joined by
Leye Adenle, who through the success of last year’s
Easy Motion Tourist is fast establishing himself as a leading name in Nigerian crime fiction. He will appear at the festival from November 7 to 10.
Another top-selling Indian author making her way to Sharjah is Preeti Shenoy, who will return to the UAE for a November 10 discussion about her latest novel, A Hundred
Little Flames. Her first to be set outside of urban India, the novel follows an Indian expat child who returns from Bahrain to Kerala to spend time with his grandfather.
The writers will join an array of authors and special guests presenting at the book fair, which is held at the Sharjah Expo from November 1 to 11. Also on the guest list are International Prize for Arabic Fiction winner Saud Al Sanousi, British historian Peter Frankopan and Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram.