showdaily

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23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 March 2013

Second Kalima International

Conference on Translation Opens

by Vinutha Mallya

Enabling Translators is
the theme of the second
Abu Dhabi International
Conference for Translation,
organised by Kalima.
The conference was
inaugurated yesterday at
the Abu Dhabi National
Exhibition Centre.
Like last year, this year too
the conference coincides
with the annual Abu Dhabi
International Book Fair.
The first edition held in 2012, with the
theme Translation and Todays Prospect,
delved into the current realities of the
movement of translation from and into
Arabic in contemporary times.
As a continuation of last years theme,
this year the conference will examine the
current state of the translation movement.
It will seek to develop strategies capable
of promoting and expanding translation.

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Another objective of this years translation

conference is to encourage those that are
leading efforts to promote translation, in
light of the challenges facing it.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony,
Jumaa Al Qubaisi, Executive Director of
Abu Dhabi National Library and Director
of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair,
said: The conference is organised in
parallel to the 23rd ADIBF, the IPAF prize
ceremony and other events in Abu Dhabi.
This reflects how Abu Dhabi is becoming
a bridge of civilization and culture in the
Arab world.
More than 60 experts from 20 Arab
and foreign countries are taking part in
the 4-day conference. Dr Ali Bin Tamim,
Director of Kalima, said the conference
aims to confirm the importance of
translation as a bridge between
civilizations and people. Only translators
and university students are allowed to
attend.
Ali Al Shaali, a member of the Conference
Consultation Committee said that the
conference would bring a qualitative and
quantitative difference in the cultural

panorama of Abu Dhabi.

The four-day event is spread over four
specialized workshops as well as a
general seminar. The seminar will discuss
the axis of Literary Translation, obstacles
faced in publishing and distribution of
translated works, and it will outline the
experiences of Arab initiatives in literary
translation.
Three workshops will focus on literary
translations from English, French and
German into Arabic respectively. The
fourth will cover literary translations from
Arabic to English.
Experienced and skilled translators and
academics will take leadership at these
workshops: Mohamed Asfour (for English),
Dr Kazem Juhad (for French), Mustafa Al
Suliman (for German) and Fakhry Saleh
(for Arabic). A publication of translations
developed during the workshops is being
planned.
The Kalima project is a not-for-profit
initiative by Abu Dhabi Tourism and
Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), set up
with the aim to revive the art of translation
across the Arab World.

www.adbookfair.com | Wednesday to Monday 09:00 - 22:00 | Friday 16:00 - 22:00

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2013

Highlights of
recommendations from the
first Abu Dhabi International
Conference for Translation,
held in 2012:
Foster the development of translation
curricula in universities and to establish
institutes for translation.
Set up training programs for
translators, with the help of competent
professionals.
Create concerted efforts by governments
and civil society organisations to
develop a strategic vision for the
advancement of Arab publishing
industry, and expand partnerships with
publishing houses of other languages.
Establish associations and bodies
specialised in translation that work
across the Arab world.
Expand the range of translations to
include dialects and languages.
Focus also on knowledge texts and
science.
Establish an effective distribution
platform to improve access to readers.
Create a database of translated works.

03

Why Developing Top Translation

Programmes Takes Time
by Vinutha Mallya

Funding for translations is a start, but all other activities

around it are just as important, says Alexandra Bchler,
Director of Literature Across Frontiers (LAF). Translator
training, literary meets and book fairs, which enable
dialogue and exchange, support translation programmes.

MASTHEAD
Editor:
Edward Nawotka
Deputy Editor:
Irum Fawad
Design Manager:
Nada Baroudy
Bylined articles do not
necessarily reflect the
views of the editors.
Abu Dhabi International Book Fair
2013
All rights reserved.
Duplication, either in whole or in part,
permissible only with the prior written
consent of the Abu Dhabi International
Book Fair.

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The LAF, an independent platform, works in

collaboration with a network of partners in
Europe and beyond, which includes literary
festivals, independent institutions, national
translation funding bodies and universities.
The organization has helped set up the Hay
Beirut Festival and the Istanbul Tanpinar
Literature Festival. It also works at the
policy level, to formulate recommendations
for governments on translation funding
progrmmes.
As part of its work to foster translations into
Arabic, the organization had held translation
workshops with graduate translators at Ain
Shams University, organized with the AlAlsun faculty of languages in September last
year. Over 70 translators participated to learn
about translation into Arabic from seven
languages. This activity was part of LAFs
ongoing work on the Euro-Mediterranean
Translation Programme. LAF has organized
60 workshops since its inception in 2001,
and it has worked with 40 languages. By
participating as a collective stand in major
book fairs, including those here in the
Emirates in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, LAF
facilitates networking opportunities for its
partner organizations. These efforts have
been successful for national translation
funding bodies like the Finish Literature
Exchange (FILI), which promotes Finnish
literature abroad.

It takes money,
translators, ideas
and a network as
well, says Director
of Literature
Across Frontiers

During their participation at the ADIBF last

year through the LAF collective stand, FILI
was able to locate Arabic publishers for
Finnish books. FILI made two grants It helps
that FILI has the support of translator Maria
Pakkala, who can translate from Finnish into
Arabic directly.
Organisations like FILI, which are working
to promote national literatures, realize that
translators are needed, according to Bchler.
But, the process of developing translators
works slowly and the results are seen only
over a period of time. The ADIBF is a good fair
to meet new people and maintain existing
contacts, according to Bchler. She praises
it for the good organization, structure, and
programming. For more information about
how Literature Across Frontiers can help
you develop your translation program, visit
the LAF stand at Hall 11 C18.

Emirates Publishers Association Launches

Mentoring Program for New Publishers
by Roger Tagholm

A new mentoring scheme called Unshor

(Publish) to encourage Emirati publishing
start-ups has been established by the
Emirates Publishers Association (EPA), with
EPA President Sheikha Bodour Al Qassimi
very much the driving force.
The 500,000 AED initiative is backed by the
Khalifa Fund and will see five, new Emirati
publishers receive mentoring support from
publishers within the EPA. They will receive
advice and guidance on areas such as
social media and PR, while UAE booksellers
Kinokuniya, Jashanmal and Virgin have
agreed to host events and launches for the
publishers titles.
I am very proud to launch this programme,
said the Sheikha yesterday, ahead of the
schemes official launch on Sunday when the
publisher partners will be announced. A lot
of publishers need help in their first year. We
are continuously seeking to find proactive

Id like to
encourage more
women to come
into publishing.

profitable career. The implementation of this

programme marks yet another major step
forward in our quest to tap into the immense
potential of the UAEs growing publishing
industry. Through programmes such as
this one we aim to nurture the Emirates
publishing sector and encourage a new
generation of young publishers to step up
to the mark. The publishers selected for
the program will also have the opportunity
ways to keep up with developments in the
global publishing sector and to support the to attend a week-long apprenticeship with
publishers in London just as Sheika Bodour
potential of Emirati publishers. Approving
Al Qassimi herself some years ago with
this programme is a step forward in our
plans aimed at enhancing the UAEs cultural Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury. While
in London, they will also be offered one-day
position, supporting local publishers and
workshops on areas such as digital and
developing their skills and experience.
rights. The programme falls in line with the
She added: I am keen to see the EPA
continue into the future. I would like to grow EPAs goal of enhancing the local publishing
our members and I would like to encourage industry and ensuring the creation of an
educated society in the UAE and the Arab
more women to come into publishing
world.
for them to see it as an attractive and

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 April 2013

Against Totalitarianism

by Olivia Snaije

Excerpt from The Silence and the Roar: In my country people love rhymed
speech and rhymed prose and inspirational metred verse. Just watch how
they will repeat phrases that have no meaning whatsoever but that rhyme
perfectly well. In the end this means that if the ruler wants the masses
to adore him he must immediately set up a centre dedicated to the
production of new slogans about him, on the condition that they
resemble poetry because we are a people who love poetry so much
that we love things that only resemble poetry.
Syrian writer Nihad Sirees has just returned
to the US from a whirlwind trip to the UK
where Pushkin Press published The Silence
and the Roar, his first book in English,
translated by Max Weiss, which won the
2012 PEN award. A trained engineer,
Sirees has been writing novels, plays and
screenplays since the 1980s.
In the excellent The Silence and the Roar,
first published in Arabic by the Lebanese Dar
al-Adab, a 31-year-old banned writer Fathi
recounts one sweltering day in an unnamed
city where crowds are celebrating the 20th
anniversary of a dictator. As he pushes his
way through the chanting masses, visiting
his mother, his girlfriend Lama, his sister, a
hospital and the Party building to retrieve
his confiscated ID card, Fathis reflections
on keeping his moral sense alive within a
totalitarian state are written with humor,
resolution and a touch of despair.
Like his protagonist Fathi, Sirees was
excluded from publicly expressing himself in
Syria and his books have been banned there
since the 1998.
Sirees left his home in Aleppo, in January
2012. He first went to Egypt, and is currently
an International Writers Project fellow at
Brown University.Other Press in the US is
publishing The Silence and the Roar today.
Show Daily:The Silence and the Roar was
published in Beirut in 2004. It came out in
Germany in 2008, in France last fall and it
was just published in English. How does
it feel to talk about your novel nine years
after you wrote it? When you were writing it
did you think about the possibility that the
regime might fall?
The concept of tyranny is still worrying the
world, especially the Syrian people, says
Nihad Sirees.
Nihad Sirees: This book is like a mirror of
the year it was released but the incidents
and events havent stopped. Now it is clear
what I was talking about. I was talking
about tyranny in its general concept. The
concept of tyranny is still worrying the
world, especially the Syrian people. At the
time I wrote it the regime was very strong.
Maybe at that time I dreamed of the fall,
but I am not sure. This book tries to push

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people to be courageous, to find a way to

face or confront the regime. I talked about
laughingevery totalitarian regime tries
to spread fear if a writer can express
himself with humor it counters fear.
SD: Your character Fathi is
banned from writing by the
government as you were.
Your novel could actually take
place in any totalitarian regime
did this somehow make you feel less
lonely?
Sirees: Kundera, Borges, Sakharov,
Marquez, all these writers had the same
problems, the same worries about freedom
and about human rights, all writers in
this world have the same things to tell
people. But I think a writer is always lonely.

Syrias Nihad Sirees discusses the

interplay of fiction and morality
Especially when he sits down to write. He
continues to write because he feels he is
alone in the world. But in 2004, I also felt
that we were defeated, and not only me as
a writer. At the time I had been an activist
in Syrian society, we wanted to rebuild
this society after the regime [of Hafez al
Assad] had ended. Intellectuals thought
that President Bashar [al Assad] would
make some reforms. But this only lasted
a short while, then he stopped everything
and decided to continue as his father and
this is what led to 2011. If at that time they
had made some real reforms and had given
some rights to the people, we would not be
where we are now. So in 2004 I reacted to
the reforms stopping.
SD: Before the violence began in 2011, you
lived in Syria and were published outside
the country; is this a sort of unspoken
agreement between the government and
the writer?
Sirees: When I lived in Syria but I published
in Lebanon or somewhere else nothing
happened to me. I couldnt make very clear
accusations against the President or the
Party but I could say things in a roundabout
way.
SD: What about self-censorship?
Sirees: Everyone in Syria uses selfcensorship because they feel afraid. If you

cross a red line your life might be at risk. On

the other hand we cannot give up. Literature
has a great way of allowing you to say things
in a veiled manner in order to avoid any
harm.
SD: Now that youre outside of Syria are you
expressing yourself differently?
Sirees: Outside of Syria I can speak more
precisely, in my articles and essays I am freer.
It is also my duty to explain what is going on
in Syria. Everywhere I go, people say to me
that they cant understand what is going on.
So I am pushed to shed some light on the
incidents. But concerning literature I find I still
like to use veiled references.
SD: Is it possible to reflect the tragedy of this
terrible violence in literature?
Sirees: I have started to think about how
to analyze this violence, how to realize
this in a novel. This is what Im busy with. I
was shocked at every Syrian. We know the
regime acted criminally in 1982 in Hama
[when Hafez al-Assads regime murdered an
estimated 30,000 people to quell a Muslim
Brotherhood revolt] and a whole city was
destroyed but something pushed us to put
that behind us. Maybe we thought that it was
better not to think about that and to look to
the future. No one thought about revolution
when the Arab Spring started in Tunisia. It
was nice to watch it on TV. The Syrian regime

doesnt know how to deal with uprisings

without violence so then the Syrians started
to go out into the streets to demonstrate
against this violence. Violence plays a big role
in these events and it was the way the regime
inspired fear. But now fear has become real.
People are without any sense of humanity,
so we are all shocked. What we see now is
the reply of some people against the violence
of the regime. Like I will show you what you
show me. My country is on a road to nowhere.
SD: Many of the younger Syrian writers use
social media to communicate. Have you
experimented with it and if so, does it change
your way of writing?
Sirees: I use Facebook and Twitter to
communicate with people but I am not so
good at it But many Syrians were ready
to use these social networks including
YouTube, which is a priority because they
have been able to archive the revolution from
the beginning with mobile phones and it
pushed others to cooperate in this revolution.
Creative writing is less important now; you
have to discuss what is going on today, you
have to state your opinion.
Today, Nihad Sirees will take part in the
panel discussionWriters in the Crossfire
at 18:45, hosted by Maan Al Taie.
The event will be followed by a book
signing.

03

Writing and Reading After

the Arab Spring
by M. Lynx Qualey

Author and commentator Ibrahim Issa shares his views on literary life in post-Mubarak Egypt

Should the changing political landscape

affect how we read and write?

story. Because I see what others do not

see and I want them to see it. I write so
I dont have to see a therapist. It brings
out things in me that would otherwise
come out in dreams or the like.And I
frankly write in order to entertain myself.
If I dont enjoy it, then there is no point
in writing.

Fiery Egyptian journalist, editor, and

popular novelist Ibrahim Issa spoke at the
Discussion Sofa yesterday about reading
and writing after the Arab Spring.
Although Issa is at the fair this year
because his latest novel, Our Master,
was shortlisted for the International Prize
for Arabic Fiction, he is best known as a
newspaperman and political commentator
who was hounded for years by Mubarakera censors.
For Issa, publishing has been a lifetime
passion. He put out his first magazine,
al-Haqiqa (The Truth) while a pre-teen in
Menufiya, distributing it to schools and
newsstands on his own. By age 17, he was
at work on the state-owned newspaper
Rose al-Youssef. But because he couldnt
toe the newspapers political line, he was
switched into the literary department.
Not long after, he left to found his own
newspaper, Dostour.
Through Dostour, Issa became a wellknown opposition figure, but he never lost
his love of literature. As the years passed,

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This gave me a
lot of knowledge
and awareness
of the industry of
religion in Egypt

and particularly when he was prevented

from publishing, Issa wrote novels. Our
Master was his seventh.
Although the novel tackles contemporary
themes, Issa said in an interview for the
blog ArabLit, he does not write novels as
a political act.
Writing, he said, must be fun: I write
because I have always wanted to tell a

Issas latest novel has entertained

thousands of readers, and has been
a top-seller for publisher Bloomsbury
Qatar. The book tells the story of Sheikh
Hatem Shinawy, the books master,
a permanent and popular guest on a
religious TV program.
Years back, Issa himself worked in
producing and presenting religious
television. This gave me a lot of
knowledge and awareness of the
industry of religion in Egypt I do
believe it is an industry.
Issa said that he believes the Egyptian
novel will have to adapt to a new
landscape. Before it used to be a fight
against political oppression. Now it will
be political and religious oppression.
The literary text will have to face this.

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 April 2013

Icelands Sjon: From the Tundra to the Desert

by Olivia Snaije

When Icelandic poet and

author Sjn knew he was
coming to Abu Dhabi he
began to think about what
the two cultures might
have in common, given the
all-too-evident contrast in
landscape.
I realised we both can still read ancient
texts, he said. We have the culture of
medieval sagas in Iceland, we still read these
texts in their original language, and in the
Arab culture there is epic poetry with stories
about battles and so on
Sjn is one of ten prize-winning Icelandic
writers, including the late Nobel laureate
Halldor Laxness, from the dynamic publishing
house Forlagi to be translated into Arabic by
publishers in Egypt and Lebanon.
Sjn, who began writing poetry at 15 and
was an active member of Reykjaviks cultural
scene, got his international breakthrough
with a short novel called The Blue Fox

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published by UK publisher Telegram in 2008.

The novel about a search for an elusive blue
fox won the Nordic Council Literary Prize and
was translated into over twenty languages.
Dar al Saqi in Beirut published The Blue Fox
last February in Arabic.
Its amazing to be here with an Arabic
edition of my book, said Sjn. Stories
should travelwherever you go, you match
them to your reality.
The Blue Fox was translated from a bridge
languagein this case Victoria Cribbs
English translationby Palestinian poet
Mazen Maarouf. Cribbs translation was
used for Chinese, Romanian and Turkish
translations as well, and because Sjn,
whose English is excellent, had worked in
collaboration with Cribb, he felt comfortable
with the arrangement. Happily for both Sjn
and Maarouf, the latter is currently a guest
writer in Reykjavik under the ICORN program,
which offers safe havens for writers in
member cities.
I worked closely with him, said Sjn. We
could go over things that were exotic to
him and living in Iceland he got to know the
culture.

Maarouf may have his work cut out for him if

Arabic-language readers take to Sjns work.
Sjn is currently finishing the last book of a
trilogy (working title The Sleeping Door) that
he began in 1984.
Its almost like it was written by three
different people, said Sjn, whose career as
an author, playwright, screenwriter, librettist
and lyricist for singer and songwriter Bjrk
has flourished in Iceland and abroad over the
past thirty years. His three books published
with Telegram, The Blue Fox, From the Mouth
of the Whale (shortlisted for this years
International IMPAC Dublin literary award)
and The Whispering Muse will be published
this month by Farrar Straus and GirouxBjork
will introduce his work at the presentation
launchand Sjn is getting ready to go on a
book tour to the US West Coast. His character
in the trilogy, said Sjn, is a reflection of and
provides a device to examine a generation
of Icelanders born in the 1960s who
experienced the time, when Iceland began
opening up to the world.
You know that saying, you begin as an
author and end up as a traveling salesman?
he quipped.

03

EPUB3: Truly Global Reading System

by Benedicte Page

More help from Arabic

publishers is needed to make
EPUB3 a truly global reading
system, Bill McCoy, Executive
Director of the International
Digital Publishing Forum,
has told ADIBF.
The Forum, an international trade and
standards organization for the digital
publishing industry, supports the EPUB3
format as part of its mission to foster the
development of an open, global ecosystem
for digital publishing.
McCoy told publishers EPUB3 had solved
the global language problem through the
level of support it offers, including features
such as right to left page progression and
text progression, and reflowable Arabic,
which adjusts the text on screens of different
sizes. Phonetic annotation useful for
languages including Arabic, Japanese, Thai
and Vietnamese - is also among the global
language support features EPUB3 includes.
The whole web platform will become better
for global languages. You shouldnt have to
express Arabic by Western norms, McCoy

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declared.
But he said more contributors were needed
from the Arabic world to help with the
development of the format. The IDPF is
producing an EPUB3 Reading System Test
Suite, an extensive set of tests that can
be run for functionality, and needs more
input from Arabic language speakers. If
you want Kobo, iBooks and Barnes & Noble
all supporting Arabic wonderfully in their
reading systems, you need to help us,
McCoy appealed. We need you to help do
what it takes to make Arabic a completely
first-class citizen in thiS new world.
McCoy said he perceived Arabic publishers
as currently still more fearful than eager
about digital books, with the state of the
market exactly as it was in the US three
years ago, in Japan one and a half years ago.
But, with digital revenues in the US rising
from nothing to $1bn within three years and
now standing at 20-30% of revenue for the
major US publishers, there is the potential
for the rest of the world to match that rapid
growth, he said.
But McCoy urged the Arabic publishing
community not to get locked in to a
proprietary format such as Amazon Kindle
and instead to support EPUB3 as an open,
free-to-use format driven by the needs of the
commercial publishing industry.

IDPF head
calls for more
involvement from
Arabic publishing
community

Amazon people never speak of digital

books or e-books, only Kindle books,
he said. They are aiming to control
the definition of what a digital book is.
Publishers and authors would be foolish to
allow one company to own that definition.
Publishers should by all means use
proprietary formats for experimenting with
digital, he said, but reiterated: We want
to eliminate sole-source, single-vendor
dependencies. We think a neutral source of
technology makes sense, even if it can be
commercially enhanced by vendors.

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 April 2013

Interactive teaching materials

created through the iBooks
Author programme are
significantly increasing
student engagement and
pushing teachers to use
more exciting classroom
methods, according to staff
at the United Arab Emirates
University.

TEC 5: Interactive eBooks

Transforming Teaching at UAEU

by Benedicte Page

The UAEU has been developing online

learning resources through iTunes U for its
foundation course students, who, following
a government initiative, have been taught
via iPad since the start of the academic
year. The university has converted existing
in-house content using iBooks Author and,
in the past few weeks, created new content
specifically for the platform.
Deputy provost Professor Rob Whelan and
Pamela Johnson of the universitys General
Requirements Unit told ADIBF that the
iPad is working as a catalyst for teaching
and learning. It offers the opportunity to
teach in what has been termed a flipped
classroom, where students first learn a
topic at home before being able to spend
classroom time using their knowledge in

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active problem-solving, they said.

The iBooks Author functions which have
proved useful include being able to tap
words to access definitions, matching
audio to text so that students can choose
either to read or listen, and submit
buttons which allow students to email
answers directly to their teacher.
Creating textbooks from scratch via the
technology also enables teaching staff to
use as much color photography as they
please an unaffordable luxury in print
publication and to offer immediate
feedback for students via multiple choice
questions which give them an instant
indication of whether their answers are
right or wrong. Students can also work in
pairs, playing the role of examiner and

Apple
iBooks Author
is key component
of new strategy
student, asking questions and timing the
speed of replies.
Whelan said: The technology offers a
richness of material and gives students
the ability to learn by themselves rather
than being in the classroom. Within one
semester, all the assessment weve done
indicates that student engagement is
much higher - and that is a critical part of

education. He also argued that the new

materials could prove a catalyst to expand
good teaching, and to get teachers who
have got into the groove of a didactic
approach just standing and teaching to
move into a better place.
Questioned as to whether the UAEU was
rushing too fast into an education method
which has yet to have proper assessment,
Johnson said: If we waited for longitudinal
studies giving direct evidence on the
results we would lose out.
But she accepted, There is caution
required, saying that among her concerns
was the possibility that students would no
longer be able to stumble upon exciting
information as they leafed through paper
texts.

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 April 2013

Illusrtration of the Day: David Macedo

www.adbookfair.com

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