Sharjah had welcomed global publishing industry professionals on Sunday, October 29, from 106 countries for the 13th annual Publishers Conference, which was hosted annually in the lead-up to the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) and was a key component of SIBF’s event’s professional program.
The conference took place in Expo Centre Sharjah and had hosted participants from 12 debutant countries, including Benin, Ivory Coast, the Czech Republic, Mauritius, Paraguay, Burkina Faso, Zaire, Malawi, Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.
The 13th annual Publishers Conference had hosted 42 speakers and experts, including the likes of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA); Núria Cabutí Brull, CEO of Penguin Random House Grupo; Ian Chapman, Chief Executive and Publisher of Simon & Schuster UK and International; Cheolho Yoon, Chairman of the Korean Publishers Association.
On Day 1, these visionaries had led the conference’s packed agenda of 31 timely and topical discussions on the evolving landscape of digital publishing, fostering literary diversity and inclusivity, building industry resilience, and embracing innovation, among other topics.
Days 2 & 3 had been packed with vibrant business networking and matchmaking sessions where publishers had negotiated over topics like buying and selling rights and translation agreements.
Winners of the 2nd edition of the eagerly anticipated Sharjah Rights Connection Awards had been announced at the Publishers Conference. This year, the award had received 58 entries, including 42 literary agents and 16 publishers from 58 countries.
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) had also announced the winners of the 2nd edition of the ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing on the xx day of the conference.
