His Highness, Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah and Member of the Supreme Council, launched the French edition of his book Under the Flag of Occupation at a gala dinner in Paris during France’s most important book fair, the Salon du Livre, on 24 March.
Some 150 guests attended the dinner, including the ambassadors of Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Oman, Tunisia and Qatar. The French Minister of Culture, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, praised His Highness’ work as being of “inestimable value”, and described him as a “messenger of peace”.
The dinner concluded a landmark week for the emirate. It was announced that Sharjah is to be guest of honour at next year’s Salon du Livre and His Highness met the French President Francois Hollande at the book fair to discuss further plans. The emirate is also to be guest of honour at the Sao Paulo Book Fair next year, and will have the same honour bestowed upon it at the Serbia Book Fair.
The Salon du Livre also saw Sharjah children’s publisher Kalimat sign a memorandum of understanding with the famous French publisher Gallimard which will see a mutual exchange of titles between the two publishers for translation into French and Arabic.