Arabic books in demand by international publishers

The 31st Sharjah International Book Fair is taking place in the United Arab Emirates until November the 17th. This annual book fair has attracted participants from 62 countries including 22 countries from the arab world.

The UAE book industry is estimated to be worth $260 million.

So there is surprise that publishing houses from 62 countries globally - including China have descended on the Sharjah International book fair. Keen to take a piece of this market.

Ahmed Al Amri, director of Sharjah International Book Fair, said, "We have over 924 publishers that represent 62 countries. We have over 385,000 titles in the book fair. For the first time, some Chinese have come to the book fair. They are interested in selling and buying the rights for translations of the books. They successfully signed some deals from Arabic into Chinese and from Chinese into Arabic. It went very well for their first year participating."

The fair is expected to attract more than half a million visitors and surpass last year's $43 million book sales.

With translations grants been offered and matchmaking programs between international and Arab publishers taking place.

Amri said, "For the first two days we got over 350 applications. We believe we are going to get over 1500 applications of translations grants this year."

UAE publishing houses are growing in popularity. Providing high quality books that attract international publishers. With children's books popular.

Tamer Said, business development manager with Kalimat, said, "We can now see a very big interest from international publishers for Kalimat books to translate it into their own languages. So far, we have done many deals many of our books have been translated into English, Turkish, Swedish, Italian, Malysian and many other countries."

Emirati author Salha Ghabesh has published 8 books in the UAE and launched her new children's book at the fair.

She wants children in the UAE to understand their heritage and life before petrol through the story she tells. She wants her books to appeal also to the international audience.

Emirati author Salha Ghabesh said, "I write my poems especially in Arabic but with the international people in mind. I want to speak to the man in the UAE, the man internationally. Sometimes, I am doing books for Arabic people, writing in Arabic but for the international people that when it's translated they can understand me more."

Reporter: "Distribution of books is one of the biggest challenges across the Arab world, with very little distribution happening across borders. So book fairs like this offer perfect opportunities for authors to break in."