Tuesday October 31st was the wrap up of the Sharjah International Book Fair fellowship program, which is held ahead of the book fair.
I’ve come so many times to this fellowship, I stopped counting. I’ve seen it grow over the years, to become probably one of the most important professional programs in the world, where this year, over 700 publishing professionals met, discussed, exchanged books and ideas, for three days.
To me, the SIBF also has an important “South-South connection” flavor to it. It feels very empowering for our territories and languages which tend to be less focused upon in other major fairs.
This year was a special edition for RAYA. Apart from the old friends I got to see again, and the new ones I got to make, I received the “Sharjah Rights Connection Award”, Agency category.
RAYA was “praised for boosting cross-cultural its work in cross-cultural literature and diversifying publishing”.
I was most moved by the introductory words, and the testimonials shared by the friends and colleagues who have nominated me — I wish I had noted these words down!
Whoever you are: Thank you for nominating me, for appreciating the effort and heart I put in this work, and for enjoying working with me — I enjoy working with you too!
I also would like to extend my thanks to the Sharjah Book Authority for their humane and inclusive vision on books and publishing.
In these dark days, I truly believe we, enablers of words, play a critical role in making sure the stories we carry are heard.
