Abu Dhabi book fair filled with air of authority

Abu Dhabi - The fair is being organised under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The week-long Abu Dhabi International Book Fair opened in the Capital on Wednesday. Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre has been transformed into a treasure house of knowledge and wisdom, filing the facility with an air of authority. There are as many as 65 countries with over 500,000 titles in 30 languages. The most pleasing sight of the fair being hundreds of students thronging the many stalls checking out thousands of books.
The fair is being organised under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. And it was UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan who opened the fair. Sheikh Saif attended the inaugural ceremony by the guest of honour country China. He followed it up with visits to the stalls and enquired about the books on display. Students trailed the minister like shadow and tried to follow his conversations on books. Sheikh Saif also obliged students with selfies.
There was a giant cover page of popular 'Reflections on Happiness and Positive Attitude'. And scores took photos in front of book by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The government entities too were in numbers with Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, Federal National Council, Emirati Scholars Development Programme, National Media Council among others.
The Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development pavilion has more than 200 titles. The collection includes translation works, cultural and heritage books and those by young writers. Undersecretary at the ministry Afra Al Sabri said the pavilion will have five initiatives related to 'Year of Reading' and 'Year of Giving'. 'We Love Reading', 'Cultural Volunteering Team', 'The Box of Giving', 'Cards of Happiness' and 'The Creativity Laboratory' are the initiatives.
Abu Dhabi National Educational Council pavilion saw reading sessions being held. The pavilion was always filled with students eager to listen to the tales being told.
The fair is a haven for publishing companies too with all the big and small names having stalls. Among the countries with sizeable displays were Saudi Arabia, Italy, Germany, Poland and Korea.
'Al Multaqa' centre was the place for sessions and discussions. Topics including 'Mediation Translation to Arabic', 'Silk Road' was discussed on the day by authors and scholars. And hundreds of such activities and more are set to be held here over the next few days.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi