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At least three UK publishers have applied to have bases in Sharjah’s “Publishing City”, The Bookseller has learned.
The first phase of the venture, costing £47m, was due to open in January, but a soft launch will now take place in July ahead of an official opening in November.
Three publishers from the UK have applied to have presences in the Publishing City, according to Mohamed Noor Hersi, a consultant for the Sharjah Publishing Free Zone, who gave The Bookseller exclusive access to the first phase at the £47m development.
However, he declined to reveal the names of the UK publishers involved, saying it was for them to announce their involvement.
“Three publishers from the UK have applied – they are medium-size companies but are doing well. We have had discussions with publishers such as Oxford University Press,” said Noor Hersi.
More than 400 offices for 320 publishers will be provided in the first stage of the project, which includes a purpose-built two-storey building across 19,000 square metres. This figure has doubled from the original estimates last November, when the SBA estimated 140-180 publishers would take up camp there.
The site of the Publishing City
Sharjah Book Authority has received “600 expressions of interest” and “about 400 serious customers who have submitted applications" to have offices at the site, according to Noor Hersi.
He said: “We have completed reviewing 210 applications and in the process of registering them. We anticipate to finalise and issue licenses as soon as possible.”
The Publishing City is based on the main Dubai to Sharjah road, 10 minutes drive from the site of Sharjah International Book Fair. Noor Hersi said that the complex would house various facilities as well as publishing companies including editing and translation services.
Along with many Arab and African publishers, other countries which have shown “serious” interest in having offices in the Publishing City include Hong Kong, France and the USA, with around half of the applications reportedly coming from India.
Ahmed Al Ameri, chairman of the SBA, told The Bookseller: “We are talking about a huge market. The Arab market is worth around £1.1bn, the African market is £1bn so we’re talking about £2bn of market. It will make Sharjah the hub of publishing in the world. The interest that we have is more than 250% of the space that we have and the building is almost finished. This is the first free zone for the publisher in the whole world.”
Organisers said around 1,600 people will be based there. It is described as the “brain-child” of His Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi and the Sharjah ruler visits the site every month to check on progress.
The SBA is also working with publicity agency, Midas PR, to survey publishers in the UK to see what they want from Publishing City and a second phase of development will also continue the city into other sites and is scheduled to be completed by 2019.
The publishing city was one of the hot topics at Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, taking place from 19th-29th April.
Sharjah Children's Reading Festival
In the ninth year of the event, organised by a government department, Faisal Al Nabouda said the 11-day festival had changed “tremendously” since he began working for the SBA four years ago. The international sales executive told The Bookseller: “When I first started we offered 60,000 titles at the festival, now it’s more than 100,000. We are very pleased since the past few years the number of visitors is increasing every year. There are 18 countries [represented], six which are participating for the first time; China, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Morocco.”
Al Ameri said the SBA had “transformed” the festival from a book fair into a reading festival. “The cookery shows are growing more popular as are the school visits and there are more activities now,” he said. “This is the biggest element in getting children to come to the fair. This year there are 2,093 activities. We used to get 30,000 visitors and now we get 215,000 people. We get around 15 to 25,000 visitors each day, mostly families.”
The illustration exhibition, which has been running for five years, was also singled out by various exhibitors, authors and illustrators. Al Ameri said: “[This] is the jewel in the crown of the festival. It is now one of the most important competitions for illustrators around the world.”
Many authors and illustrators reported on the high level of the children’s English and how engaged they were in the workshops. Illustrator Sheena Dempsey said: “I'm here with Swapna Haddow to promote Dave Pigeon [Faber] and our first event was that afternoon at the American University [based near to Publishing City], with children aged between six and 10 who were attending an after school club. The kids were very engaged and full of enthusiasm and ideas."
English author Michael Bird described the illustration exhibition as full of “imaginative, high-quality work” but said the festival could be improved. He said: “The was no programme of individual readings/talks plus signings, and the book stands were the least busy area of the festival.”
No UK publishers were in attendance at the festival during The Bookseller’s visit.