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Cultural Programme At 33rd Sharjah International Book Fair Attracts Best-Selling And Award-Winning International Authors |
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The 33rd Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) has unveiled the list of top national, regional and international authors taking part in the Cultural Programme, which runs alongside the Book Fair, now the world’s fourth largest, and being held at Expo Centre Sharjah from 5-15 November 2014. With participation by government entities, publishing houses, private sector companies and NGOs, and organised by SIBF, this year’s Cultural Programme will include literary, intellectual, art, and cultural events with the participation of renowned international, Arab, and local figures. A ‘Cultural Café’ has been included this year, alongside poetry readings, visits by celebrity authors, and awards. The Sharjah International book Fair has always attracted renowned authors, popular and niche alike, but the 33rd edition is set to boast the most esteemed line-up yet – appropriate for Sharjah’s celebrations as Islamic Capital of Culture 2014. Visiting writers will include Ambassador Husein Haqqani, former Pakistani Ambassador to the USA and currently Director for South and Central Asia at Hudson Institute in Washington DC and Professor of the Practice of International Relations at Boston University. He has been a journalist, academic and diplomat in addition to serving as advisor to four Pakistani Prime Ministers, including the late Benazir Bhutto. His 2005 book was acclaimed for explaining the roots of Pakistan’s foreign and domestic policies. Ambassador Haqqani will speak in a session entitled “Which Side of the Mind: Dialogue of the East and the West” at 20:30 on Nov 7th at the Intellectual Hall. G. Willow Wilson, another distinguished guest, is an American comic book writer and award winner novelist. Her works include the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Alif the Unseen, which was a New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. Her comic book series Air and Mystic were nominated for Eisner Awards, the highest honor in the American comic book industry. Currently, she writes the popular monthly comic Ms. Marvel for Marvel Comics. Ms. Wilson will present at the book forum at 19:15 on Nov 15th entitled “Illustrated Tales: The Relationship between the Word and the Image”. Kamila Shamsie is a Pakistani-British author of six novels who has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction for her recent novel, Burnt Shadows. Three of her other novels (In the City by the Sea, Kartography, Broken Verses) have received awards from the Pakistan Academy of Letters. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and one of Granta’s 2013 list of ‘Best of Young British Novelists’. She will speak at the Literature Forum entitled “Geography of Place: Places and their Role in the Narrative Text” at 19:15 on Nov 5th. Douglas Preston is an international and New York Times bestseller. An American journalist and fiction and non-fiction writer, some of his thirty books, many of which have reached #1, have been and are being made into film. In addition to his fiction, Preston has written for the New Yorker, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Atlantic Monthly, and Foreign Policy. In 2010 Pomona College conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. He will speak at the Literature Forum on Nov 8th at 18:00 entitled “Hidden Secrets: Wonder in Narrative Work”. Raymond Khoury is a British-Lebanese New York Times and international bestseller and author of seven novels. His work has been translated into over 40 languages and he has sold over 10 million copies. He is the author of four Reilly & Tess adventures: The Last Templar, The Templar Salvation, The Devil’s Elixir, and Rasputin’s Shadow, as well as two stand-alone thrillers, The Sanctuary and The Sign. His debut novel, The Last Templar, spent 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted for television by NBC. He will speak on Nov 12th at at 19:15 at the Book Forum, entitled “The Book Trip: Literature and Creativity Enjoyment”. Yasmina Khadra is Algeria’s most celebrated writer, translated into 25 languages, and began publishing in 1988 under his wife’s name in order to avoid military censors. He is the author of over 20 novels including Morituri, The Swallows of Kabul, The Attack, What the Day owes the Night and is decorated with the Legion d’honneur and the Prix de l’Academie Francaise. Mr. Khadra will speak at the Book Forum on “The Pathway of the Word. New Prospects in the Novel” on Nov 13th at 20:30. Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian multi-award winning author of nine books and has been published in 15 countries. Her novel, Does My Head Look Big In This, has been adapted into a play in the USA. She has also sold the TV rights to her novel, No Sex in the City. She has been listed as one of the '1000 Most Important Women of the Middle East and the Arab World’. She will speak on “The Communication of Words: Literature and Society’s Issues” at the Book Forum on Nov 13th at 19:15. Amish Tripathi is “India’s first literary pop star”. He is a nation-wide bestseller with over 2 million books sold and translated into 14 languages. He is known for his novels The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas and The Oath of the Vayuputras, which comprise the Shiva Trilogy, the fastest selling book series in the history of Indian publishing. Visitors will be able to hear him speak and meet him at 17:30 on Nov 7th at the Intellectual Hall entitled “In Conversation – About the Success of the Shiva Trilogy”. Amitav Ghosh is an award-winning fiction writer from India. He is the author of The Circle of Reason (his 1986 debut novel), The Shadow Lines, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, and Sea of Poppies, the first volume of The Ibis trilogy. He has won the Arthur C. Clark Award and has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He will talk at 20:30 on Nov 13th at the Intellectual Hall entitled “The Circle of Reason”. Shashi Tharoor is the Indian former Minister of State for External Affairs. He is a United Nations Peacekeeper and the award-winning author of 14 books, and hundreds of articles. He will speak on “Know the Charming Face of Indian Politics”, at 20:30 on Nov 9th in the Ballroom. And Shiv Khera is a bestselling Indian author of self-help books and a motivational speaker. At 20:30 on Nov 11th in the Ballroom, he will give a presentation entitled “Winners Don't do Different Things, They do Things Differently”. Together, these distinguished writers, journalists, academics, civil servants and speakers will join dozens of other celebrated guests within the Book Fair’s Cultural Programme, taking part in awards ceremonies, literature forums, panel discussions, prose and poetry readings and signings. |
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