The 13th Sharjah Publishers Conference will bring together 106 Countries

Sharjah's 13th Publishers Conference: A global assembly of industry professionals from 106 countries, leading up to the Sharjah International Book Fair.

on Oct 30, 2023

The 13th Sharjah Publishers Conference will bring together 106 Countries | Frontlist

Sharjah will welcome global publishing industry professionals from 106 countries tomorrow, Sunday, October 29th, for the 13th annual Publishers Conference, which is held annually in the run-up to the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) and is a key component of SIBF's professional programme.

The three-day conference will be held at the Expo Centre Sharjah and will feature delegates from 12 new nations, including Benin, Ivory Coast, the Czech Republic, Mauritius, Paraguay, Burkina Faso, Zaire, Malawi, the Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

The Publishers Conference has played an important global role in enhancing industry knowledge and interconnection for many years, as well as being an axis in the fostering of networking and cultural exchange. The conference's unprecedented performance in 2021 and 2022 influenced the designation of SIBF as the world's largest publishing event for two years in a row.

Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA); Nuria Cabuti Brull, CEO of Penguin Random House Grupo; Ian Chapman, Chief Executive and Publisher of Simon & Schuster UK and International; and Cheolho Yoon, Chairman of the Korean Publishers Association will be among the 42 speakers and experts at the 13th annual Publishers Conference.

On Day 1, these visionaries will lead 31 important and topical debates on the changing environment of digital publishing, cultivating literary diversity and inclusivity, developing industry resilience, and embracing innovation, among other topics.

The second and third days will be jam-packed with lively business networking and matchmaking sessions where publishers will bargain over issues such as buying and selling rights and translation agreements.

The winners of the second edition of the Sharjah Rights Connection Awards will be announced at the Publishers Conference. This year's award got 58 submissions from 58 nations, including 42 literary agencies and 16 publishers.

On the xxth day of the conference, the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) will also announce the winners of the 2nd edition of the ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing.

The three-day conference will be followed by the 42nd annual SIBF, which will open its doors to the public on November 1st and promises a spectacular 12-day celebration of books, creativity, arts, and culture under the slogan "We Speak Books."