The Bookseller.com

5th December 2008

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Abu Dhabi fights piracy

19.03.08 Victoria Arnstein

One hundred and twenty publishers known to have infringed copyright were banned from exhibiting at this year's Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, as the organisers moved to tackle piracy in the region.

Iris Klose, marketing manager of Kitab—the joint venture between the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage which oversees the fair—said that in order to foster more confidence between Arab and non-Arab publishers, it was essential that copyright issues were tackled. Kitab therefore decided to ban the 120 copyright infringing publishers.

Nevertheless, over 480 exhibitors from 42 countries participated in this year's event. In total, 159 publishers from outside the Arab world exhibited, including publishers from India, China, Pakistan and Russia who attended for the first time. Piracy was a major topic at the fair, along with establishing better distribution channels throughout the Arab world.

Jonathan Griffiths, general manager at UAE publisher Motivate Publishing, said he had experienced problems in the past where, for instance, a hotel would reproduce artwork from a book to display on its walls. But he added that there was now a definite willingness among the authorities to tighten up on copyright, and that laws were in place to enable prosecution if necessary.

Another key issue at the fair was encouraging children to read. Sherif-Joseph Rizk, business development manager at Kalima, spoke of the absence of works suitable for teenage readers in the Arab market. "It is a cultural problem," he said. "When children get to about the age of 12, parents become concerned about what they are reading [and stop them]. We are trying to promote reading to teens."

Kalima, meaning "word" in Arabic, is a programme funded by the ADACH, which aims to translate 100 titles a year into Arabic. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking is one of the first books to be translated, with other English titles on the list for this year to include The Kite Runner and The Inheritance of Loss. Rizk is keen to strengthen relationships with western publishers, and to help them market books to the Arab world.

The fair also saw the launch of Random House Arabia, with Verlagsgruppe Random House, the German trade book publishing division of RH, set to open a small office in Abu Dhabi. The editorially oriented office will be overseen by Joerg Pfuhl, head of Verlagsgruppe RH.

TOP TITLES IN ABU DHABI

Original English language titles had a strong presence at Magrudy's Bookshop in Abu Dhabi, which also has five further branches in Dubai.

In the Arabic charts, the top fiction book was an original Arabic title that translates as On the Butcher's Door by Dr Salah Al Rashid, with the second bestselling title an English translation of Paulo Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello.

Magrudy’s top ten English language fiction titles:

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Sisters by Danielle Steel
Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill
The Afgan by Frederick Forsyth
6th Target by James Patterson
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith

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