VIDEO: We leave Warsaw with new friendships, partnerships: Bodour

PublisHer, the global community working to advance women across the publishing industry, has wrapped up a landmark four-day programme at the Warsaw International Book Fair.

The participation, from 28-31 May was part of Sharjah's Guest of Honour status at this year's Fair, a designation that underscored the emirate's commitment to international cultural exchange and dialogue.

Throughout the fair, visitors flocked to the PublisHer stand – located in the Sharjah Book Authority’s official Guest of Honour space – to engage with publishing professionals, readers and industry leaders from across Poland and beyond. The programme featured two panel discussions that set women's leadership at the forefront of the global publishing conversation.

PublisHer Founder Bodour Al Qasimi said: ‘PublisHer is at Warsaw International Book Fair thanks to our longstanding partnership with Sharjah Book Authority. That’s why Sharjah's Guest of Honour participation has provided a fantastic opportunity to introduce PublisHer to women across the Polish publishing ecosystem. We leave Warsaw, the focus of Poland’s deep-rooted reading culture, with new friendships and partnerships, and the renewed conviction that connecting women in publishing in all markets has never been more vital.’

On 29 May, PublisHer held a discussion on the Main Stage called ‘Women Reshaping Global Publishing: Who Decides What the World Will Read?’. It explored ways women leaders are shaping acquisition trends, translation choices and the stories that travel across borders. The panel was moderated by Magda Szpyrka-Ankiewicz (Rights & Licensing by Magda SA) and featured Sonia Draga (Sonia Draga Publishing House), Clare Christian (Kevin Anderson & Associates) and Magdalena Kłos Podsiadło (Wytwórnia).

On 30 May, at the Sharjah Stage, PublisHer convened ‘What Translates, What Travels: Rights, Translation and Market Access Between the UAE and Poland’, a panel examining factors that determine which books move between markets and what it takes for stories to succeed internationally.

The discussion was moderated by Anna Jarota (Anna Jarota Agency) and presented in collaboration with the Emirates Publishers Association. Panellists included Małgorzata Duda-Klag (Best Books), Joanna Maciuk (Wydawnictwo Mięta), Ameera BuKadra (Ghaf Publishing and Emirates Publishers Association) and Dr Latifa AlHaj (Bumelha Publishing House and Emirates Publishers Association).

PublisHer's presence in Poland was facilitated by Sharjah's Guest of Honour status at the Warsaw International Book Fair, a programme coordinated by the Sharjah Book Authority as part of its mission to promote Sharjah and the UAE as global hubs for culture, literature and knowledge exchange.