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Publishers at the Sharjah International Book Fair 2015 (SIBF) said they have, this year, shifted attention to the academic community over individual buyers looking for fictional titles.
However, publishers have also stocked up books for buyers of all genre of books. The fair which began on Wednesday saw a large number of school and university students flock to the stands. School teachers, librarians and school children were seen browsing through books at various stalls.
Several publishers Khaleej Times spoke to said they've been participating at the fair for over 10 years. Japanese bookstore chain Kinokuniya has made its debut at the fair this year. Santi Suntien, manager of institutional and corporate sales office at Kinokuniya said this year the brand's focus was purely on academic books. "The SIBF is a very impressive book fair with an excellent global reputation. It has established itself as a truly international fair," said Suntien.
"Coming to this fair has given us pretty good exposure and in the last two days, we've had very good talks with university representatives," he added. "Even though the footfalls have been relatively slow, the interaction with universities has been fruitful and productive. This year our focus will be mainly on the academic community. We have books here for medical, engineering, and management students." Kinokuniya has over 1.5 million copies of books in its book store in Dubai.
Karim Baseem, a retailer at the Zhraa El Sharq book store from Egypt said they have been exhibiting at the fair for 14 years. "We have mostly Arabic language books on education, mythology and history. We have a few English titles and text books. Our customers are mostly students and academics." The stall gets an average of 500 to 1,000 visitors every year, according to Baseem. "Sometimes more. We are hoping that the weekend will be busier. What I've noticed is that people come in to buy books later towards the end of the fair, as compared to the earlier days," he added.
Sushma Bavishi a teacher at Our Own English High School, Dubai, who was attending the fair to buy books for the school library said: "I will definitely visit the fair again. The lineup of books is very impressive. It is well laid out and informative. The way it is laid out, it will attract more readers to the fair." She added the teachers have bought everything students need, from biographies, classics, science fiction, and workbooks for the school's library.
Allen Roberts and Indian said he has been visiting the fair for over eight years. "My children love reading. So I attend the fair every year. However, I try and get to the fair when it is not very crowded. The selection this time is pretty good and it is not very expensive, either."
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
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