The event has a section for publishing houses and another for authors, with a strong presence of children's and young people's books. The 2019 edition, the last held entirely in situ, hosted 1,874 publishing houses from 77 countries, with some 2.3 million visitors who had access to some 20 million books exhibited.
Spain, as guest of honour, will have its own pavilion which will be set up by the Spanish Business Council in the UAE and the Turespaña Office in Abu Dhabi, which will house Spanish publications and be attended by creators, representatives of the Spanish book sector and publishers.
In parallel, two professional programmes will also be held. Firstly, the American Library Association Conference, which will include the experience of librarians from the region, from the United States and from other countries at which the libraries of the guest of honour country will participate to strengthen literary relations and ties between the two countries.
And secondly, the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) Publishers' Conference, which will consist of seminars on Arabic and international publishing businesses, the 'Matchmaking Program' and opportunities to apply for an SIBF translation grant. The guest of honour country, together with its publishing houses represented, will have the opportunity to participate in this conference.
Non official translation
