Culture & Education | Sunday 9 April, 2017 5:28 am |

The Emirates Publishers’ Association (EPA) has successfully has concluded a matchmaking session with Brazilian publishers. The meeting was held at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair as a precursor to Sharjah being the guest of honour at São Paolo Book Fair 2018.

Hosted at the Brazil stand during the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which ran on April 3-6 in Italy, the meeting saw high-level representatives from Emirati and Brazilian publishing houses discussing strategic areas of mutual cooperation and possible ways to taking their relationships to new levels, incorporating a more integrated cross-cultural communication paradigm.

“It is so exciting for us to be conducting this matchmaking programme with our Brazilian friends in preparation for Sharjah being the Guest of Honour at next year’s Sao Paolo book fair. Our cooperation with the Brazilian Publishers kicked off during a visit to São Paolo in 2016, when we were invited to explore the Brazilian and Latin American book markets. During our fact finding visit, we found out that Brazil has the largest Arab diaspora, around 12 million,” said Rawan Dabbas, Head of International Relations at EPA.

She added: “During the programme, publishers from both countries have been able to make both friends and deals. Each time we meet, the similarities between the Brazilian and UAE book markets become ever more apparent – we are taking advantage of these parallels to promote cultural diplomacy between our countries.”

Luiz Alvaro Salles Aguilar De Menezez, International Affairs Manager at the Brazilian Book Chamber, said: “A successful Guest of Honour programme generates new business among the countries involved. Our goal is to optimise publishing sector commercial relations between the two countries so that they are better able to best make use of opportunities and can strengthen their respective book markets."

The emirate of Sharjah was bestowed the honour in recognition of its consistent efforts to promote international cultural communication and understanding through its promotion of the arts.

In addition to hosting Sharjah International Book Fair - the third largest book fair in the world - Sharjah has launched major projects in support of the publishing industry. It has facilitated increased translation of work into and from Arabic and has taken a lead in promoting literary and cultural exchange. The emirate has also played a key role in sustaining visual arts alongside the written word through a variety of channels, including cinema screenings, art competitions and exhibitions of illustrations.     

The Emirates Publishers Association first visited São Paolo in 2016 along with the Sharjah Book Authority, with an aim to explore the book market opportunities catering to Arabs living in Brazil. The visit explored ways to communicate Arab literature and culture in Portuguese, with Brazilian Publishers representatives visiting the Sharjah International Book Fair in November 2016, to explore similar cross-cultural opportunities in the literature industry.