Books mean a portal, a gateway to another dimension. They are like a long ride in a time machine, and one enjoys experiences which are good, bad and searing, that change your mind and heart forever.

Many a reader will recall having had cathartic experiences from a great book, and some may had their worldview changed altogether.

Few things give a person more comfort and relaxation than curling up with a book. It is his or her best companion, there is no substitute for that.

The Sharjah book fair organisers know this full well, and offer every year both a visual and cerebral treat for visitors who eagerly wait for its opening.

The resilience and sheer capability of Sharjah’s cultural project has received an unprecedented attestation with the successful 11-day run of the 39th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF). Turning the challenges posed by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic into a unique opportunity, Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) crossed a new milestone in designing and delivering SIBF 2020 as the first global event that has succeed in an in-person and on-ground format since major events and fairs around the world were cancelled since March to contain the pandemic.

The hybrid offline – online model of SIBF 2020 themed ‘The World Reads from Sharjah’ and organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), offered 1,024 publishers from 73 nations a much-needed opportunity to showcase millions of titles including 80,000 new releases to a physical audience of 382,000 people who visited the book fair.

On the other hand, SIBF 2020’s diverse cultural agenda was taken entirely on SBA’s ‘Sharjah Reads’ virtual platform, and attracted a global participation of 63,500 attendees who joined in virtually from around the globe to hear from renowned authors, intellectuals, poets and politicians, and take part in key discussions led by social media and digital experts. Little wonder then that, being the first on-ground exhibition since the onset of the coronavirus, the latest edition of the book fair got an incredible media response from hundreds of newspapers, news agencies, radio and television channels from around the globe.

The events of the first-ever hybrid edition of SIBF have been discussed in over 10,000 news items in over a dozen languages including French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Russian, Urdu, Spanish, Malayalam, and English.

With prevalence across written and multimedia formats, stories of the book fair’s success backed by the emirate’s successful cultural project led by His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, were told by regional and international media houses to their readership and reinforced the significance of one of the top three book fairs on the world map.

The book fair was held between November 4 - 14 under the theme ‘The World Reads from Sharjah’ with the participation of 1,024 publishers from 73 nations. The event hosted renowned Arab and international authors and witnessed a physical audience of 382,000 individuals who visited the fairgrounds. The book fair also engaged and entertained 63,500 virtual attendees from around the globe on its virtual platform ‘Sharjah Reads’.

Among the literary luminaries and global cultural figures who participated in the 11-day fair were Wasini al-A’raj, Ahmed Murad, Lina Khoury, Dr Mohsen Al Ramli, Mishel Hamad, in addition to Prince Ea, Robert Kiyosaki, Lang Leav, Ian Rankin, Najwa Zebian, Neil Pasricha, and Elisabetta Dami, and many others.

To the lover of a book, there is nothing that could offer more delight than feeling the crisp crinkle of its leaves. The Sharjah book fair is living proof of that – seeking to affirm that knowledge is enlightenment.