Nobel Prize winner, celebrities coming to Sharjah book fair
Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah; US author Gardner among guests
The 2021 Nobel laureate for Literature, Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, will lead the list of international literary luminaries from 13 countries who will participate in the 40th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2021), which takes place from November 3 to 13 at Expo Centre Sharjah.
Organised by Sharjah Book Authority, the book fair boasts an extensive programme of 440 cultural activities, which will include literary talks and panel discussions led by renowned authors, writers, and journalists from around the world.
Big names
Among the headlining personalities at SIBF 2021 is American film producer, entrepreneur and best-selling author Chris Gardner, whose novel The Pursuit of Happyness has been translated into more than 40 languages, including Arabic, and was adapted to an awardwinning film starring Hollywood movie star Will Smith.
The Ugandan-born British short story writer and novelist Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, who won the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, is the author of The First Woman, Manchester Happened and Kintu.
entrepreneur, speaker, and author of Where Beauty Blossoms, I am, Swaady Martin will enrich SIBF with the point of view from Ivory Coast in West Africa, while two authors from Kenya will bring the East African perspective to SIBF 2021.
Best-selling essayist Amitav Ghosh’s work has been translated into more than 30 languages. His essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The New York Times. They have been anthologised under the titles The Imam and the Indian, and Incendiary Circumstances.
Sixteen titles of 14 authors representing 11 publishers from six Arab countries have been shortlisted for the 13th edition of the Dh1.2 million ‘Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature’, organised by the UAE Board on Books for Young People and supported by the Etisalat Group.
The winners of the award will be announced at a ceremony held during SIBF 2021.
The award comprises of five categories valued at Dh180,000 for each and distributed equally between the author, illustrator, and publisher with Dh60,000 for each, except for the ‘Young Adult Book’ category, which will be equally distributed between the author and publisher with Dh90,000 for each.
Additionally, as part of the award’s ‘Warsha’ programme, Dh300,000 will be dedicated to workshops.