ADIBF 2013 - Show Daily 3

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01 www.adbookair.com | Wednesday to Monday 09:00 - 22:00 | Friday 16:00 - 22:00 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2013

23rd Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

24 - 29 March 2013

Second Kalima InternationalConference on Translation Opens

by Vinutha Mallya

showdailyN03

Enabling Translators is

the theme o the second

Abu Dhabi International

Conerence or Translation,

organised by Kalima.

The conerence was

inaugurated yesterday at

the Abu Dhabi National

Exhibition Centre.

Like last year, this year too

the conerence coincides

with the annual Abu Dhabi

International Book Fair.

The rst edition held in 2012, with the

theme Translation and Todays Prospect,delved into the current realities o the

movement o translation rom and into

Arabic in contemporary times.

As a continuation o last years theme,

this year the conerence will examine the

current state o the translation movement.

It will seek to develop strategies capable

o promoting and expanding translation.

Another objective o this years translation

conerence is to encourage those that are

leading eorts to promote translation, in

light o the challenges acing it.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony,Jumaa Al Qubaisi, Executive Director o

Abu Dhabi National Library and Director

o the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair,

said: The conerence is organised in

parallel to the 23rd ADIBF, the IPAF prize

ceremony and other events in Abu Dhabi.

This refects how Abu Dhabi is becoming

a bridge o civilization and culture in the

Arab world.

More than 60 experts rom 20 Arab

and oreign countries are taking part in

the 4-day conerence. Dr Ali Bin Tamim,

Director o Kalima, said the conerence

aims to conrm the importance otranslation as a bridge between

civilizations and people. Only translators

and university students are allowed to

attend.

Ali Al Shaali, a member o the Conerence

Consultation Committee said that the

conerence would bring a qualitative and

quantitative dierence in the cultural

panorama o Abu Dhabi.

The our-day event is spread over our

specialized workshops as well as a

general seminar. The seminar will discuss

the axis o Literary Translation, obstacles

aced in publishing and distribution otranslated works, and it will outline the

experiences o Arab initiatives in literary

translation.

Three workshops will ocus on literary

translations rom English, French and

German into Arabic respectively. The

ourth will cover literary translations rom

Arabic to English.

Experienced and skilled translators and

academics will take leadership at these

workshops: Mohamed Asour (or English),

Dr Kazem Juhad (or French), Mustaa Al

Suliman (or German) and Fakhry Saleh(or Arabic). A publication o translations

developed during the workshops is being

planned.

The Kalima project is a not-or-prot

initiative by Abu Dhabi Tourism and

Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), set up

with the aim to revive the art o translation

across the Arab World.

Highlights orecommendations rom thefrst Abu Dhabi InternationalConerence or Translation,

held in 2012:

Foster the development o translation

curricula in universities and to establish

institutes or translation.

Set up training programs or

translators, with the help o competent

proessionals.

Create concerted eorts by governments

and civil society organisations to

develop a strategic vision or the

advancement o Arab publishing

industry, and expand partnerships with

publishing houses o other languages.

Establish associations and bodies

specialised in translation that workacross the Arab world.

Expand the range o translations to

include dialects and languages.

Focus also on knowledge texts and

science.

Establish an eective distribution

platorm to improve access to readers.

Create a database o translated works.


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02 www.adbookfair.com

N03

Editor:Edward Nawotka

Deputy Editor:Irum Fawad

Design Manager:Nada Baroudy

Bylined articles do not

necessarily reect 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 o the Abu Dhabi International

Book Fair.

MASTHEAD

Why Developing Top TranslationProgrammes Takes Timeby Vinutha Mallya

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 orce.

The 500,000 AED initiative is backed by the

Khalia Fund and will see ve, new Emirati

publishers receive mentoring support rom

publishers within the EPA. They will receive

advice and guidance on areas such as

social media and PR, while UAE booksellersKinokuniya, Jashanmal and Virgin have

agreed to host events and launches or the

publishers titles.

I am very proud to launch this programme,

said the Sheikha yesterday, ahead o the

schemes ocial launch on Sunday when the

publisher partners will be announced. A lot

o publishers need help in their rst year. We

are continuously seeking to nd proactive

ways to keep up with developments in the

global publishing sector and to support the

potential o Emirati publishers. Approvingthis programme is a step orward in our

plans aimed at enhancing the UAEs cultural

position, supporting local publishers and

developing their skills and experience.

She added: I am keen to see the EPA

continue into the uture. I would like to grow

our members and I would like to encourage

more women to come into publishing

or them to see it as an attractive and

protable career. The implementation o this

programme marks yet another major step

orward in our quest to tap into the immense

potential o the UAEs growing publishing

industry. Through programmes such as

this one we aim to nurture the Emirates

publishing sector and encourage a new

generation o young publishers to step up

to the mark. The publishers selected or

the program will also have the opportunity

to attend a week-long apprenticeship with

publishers in London just as Sheika BodourAl Qassimi hersel some years ago with

Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury. While

in London, they will also be oered one-day

workshops on areas such as digital and

rights. The programme alls in line with the

EPAs goal o enhancing the local publishing

industry and ensuring the creation o an

educated society in the UAE and the Arab

world.

The LAF, an independent platorm, works in

collaboration with a network o partners in

Europe and beyond, which includes literary

estivals, independent institutions, national

translation unding bodies and universities.

The organization has helped set up the Hay

Beirut Festival and the Istanbul Tanpinar

Literature Festival. It also works at thepolicy level, to ormulate recommendations

or governments on translation unding

progrmmes.

As part o its work to oster translations into

Arabic, the organization had held translation

workshops with graduate translators at Ain

Shams University, organized with the Al-

Alsun aculty o languages in September last

year. Over 70 translators participated to learn

about translation into Arabic rom seven

languages. This activity was part o 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. Byparticipating as a collective stand in major

book airs, including those here in the

Emirates in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, LAF

acilitates networking opportunities or its

partner organizations. These eorts have

been successul or national translation

unding bodies like the Finish Literature

Exchange (FILI), which promotes Finnish

literature abroad.

During their participation at the ADIBF last

year through the LAF collective stand, FILI

was able to locate Arabic publishers or

Finnish books. FILI made two grants It helps

that FILI has the support o translator Maria

Pakkala, who can translate rom 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 o developing translatorsworks slowly and the results are seen only

over a period o time. The ADIBF is a good air

to meet new people and maintain existing

contacts, according to Bchler. She praises

it or 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 Publishersby Roger Tagholm

Id like toencourage morewomen to comeinto publishing.

It takes money,translators, ideasand a network as

well, says Director

o LiteratureAcross Frontiers

Funding or translations is a start, but all other activities

around it are just as important, says Alexandra Bchler,

Director o Literature Across Frontiers (LAF). Translator

training, literary meets and book airs, which enable

dialogue and exchange, support translation programmes.


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www.adbookfair.com03


24 - 29 April 2013

Syrian writer Nihad Sirees has just returned

to the US rom a whirlwind trip to the UK

where Pushkin Press published The Silence

and the Roar, his rst 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,

rst 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 o a dictator. As he pushes his

way through the chanting masses, visitinghis mother, his girlriend Lama, his sister, a

hospital and the Party building to retrieve

his conscated ID card, Fathis refections

on keeping his moral sense alive within a

totalitarian state are written with humor,

resolution and a touch o despair.

Like his protagonist Fathi, Sirees was

excluded rom publicly expressing himsel in

Syria and his books have been banned there

since the 1998.

Sirees let his home in Aleppo, in January

2012. He rst went to Egypt, and is currently

an International Writers Project ellow at

Brown University. Other Press in the US ispublishing 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 all and it

was just published in English. How does

it eel to talk about your novel nine years

ater you wrote it? When you were writing it

did you think about the possibility that the

regime might all?

The concept o tyranny is still worrying the

world, especially the Syrian people, says

Nihad Sirees.

Nihad Sirees: This book is like a mirror othe 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 o 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 o the all,

but I am not sure. This book tries to push

people to be courageous, to nd a way to

ace or conront the regime. I talked about

laughingevery totalitarian regime tries

to spread ear i a writer can express

himsel with humor it counters ear.

SD:Your character Fathi is

banned rom writing by the

government as you were.

Your novel could actually take

place in any totalitarian regime

did this somehow make you eel less

lonely?

Sirees: Kundera, Borges, Sakharov,

Marquez, all these writers had the same

problems, the same worries about reedomand about human rights, all writers in

this world have the same things to tell

people. But I think a writer is always lonely.

Especially when he sits down to write. He

continues to write because he eels he is

alone in the world. But in 2004, I also elt

that we were deeated, and not only me as

a writer. At the time I had been an activist

in Syrian society, we wanted to rebuild

this society ater the regime [o Haez alAssad] had ended. Intellectuals thought

that President Bashar [al Assad] would

make some reorms. But this only lasted

a short while, then he stopped everything

and decided to continue as his ather and

this is what led to 2011. I at that time they

had made some real reorms and had given

some rights to the people, we would not be

where we are now. So in 2004 I reacted to

the reorms stopping.

SD: Beore the violence began in 2011, you

lived in Syria and were published outside

the country; is this a sort o 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 sel-censorship?

Sirees: Everyone in Syria uses sel-

censorship because they eel araid. I you

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

the other hand we cannot give up. Literature

has a great way o allowing you to say things

in a veiled manner in order to avoid any

harm.

SD: Now that youre outside o Syria are you

expressing yoursel dierently?Sirees: Outside o Syria I can speak more

precisely, in my articles and essays I am reer.

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 nd I still

like to use veiled reerences.

SD: Is it possible to refect the tragedy o 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 Haez 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 uture. 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 ear. But now ear has become real.

People are without any sense o humanity,so we are all shocked. What we see now is

the reply o some people against the violence

o the regime. Like I will show you what you

show me. My country is on a road to nowhere.

SD: Many o the younger Syrian writers use

social media to communicate. Have you

experimented with it and i so, does it change

your way o 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 rom

the beginning with mobile phones and itpushed 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 par t in the

panel discussionWriters in the Crossre

at 18:45, hosted by Maan Al Taie.

The event will be followed by a book

signing.

Syrias Nihad Sirees discusses theinterplay o fction and morality

Against TotalitarianismExcerpt rom 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

perectly well. In the end this means that i the ruler wants the masses

to adore him he must immediately set up a centre dedicated to the

production o 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.

by Olivia Snaije


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Writing and Reading Afterthe Arab Spring by M. Lynx Qualey

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

Should the changing political landscape

affect how we read and write?

Fiery Egyptian journalist, editor, and

popular novelist Ibrahim Issa spoke at theDiscussion Soa yesterday about reading

and writing ater the Arab Spring.

Although Issa is at the air this year

because his latest novel, Our Master,

was shortlisted or the International Prize

or Arabic Fiction, he is best known as a

newspaperman and political commentator

who was hounded or years by Mubarak-

era censors.

For Issa, publishing has been a lietime

passion. He put out his rst magazine,

al-Haqiqa (The Truth) while a pre-teen in

Menuya, distributing it to schools and

newsstands on his own. By age 17, he wasat work on the state-owned newspaper

Rose al-Yousse. But because he couldnt

toe the newspapers political line, he was

switched into the literary department.

Not long ater, he let to ound his own

newspaper, Dostour.

Through Dostour, Issa became a well-

known opposition gure, but he never lost

his love o literature. As the years passed,

and particularly when he was prevented

rom publishing, Issa wrote novels. OurMaster was his seventh.

Although the novel tackles contemporary

themes, Issa said in an interview or the

blog ArabLit, he does not write novels as

a political act.

Writing, he said, must be un: I write

because I have always wanted to tell a

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 Irankly write in order to entertain mysel.

I I dont enjoy it, then there is no point

in writing.

Issas latest novel has entertained

thousands o readers, and has been

a top-seller or publisher Bloomsbury

Qatar. The book tells the story o Sheikh

Hatem Shinawy, the books master,

a permanent and popular guest on a

religious TV program.

Years back, Issa himsel worked in

producing and presenting religious

television. This gave me a lot o

knowledge and awareness o theindustry o 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. Beore it used to be a ght

against political oppression. Now it will

be political and religious oppression.

The literary text will have to ace this.

This gave me alot o knowledgeand awareness

o the industry oreligion in Egypt


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24 - 29 April 2013

Icelands Sjon: From the Tundra to the Desertby 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 ancienttexts, he said. We have the culture o

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 o ten prize-winning Icelandic

writers, including the late Nobel laureate

Halldor Laxness, rom 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 o Reykjaviks cultural

scene, got his international breakthrough

with a short novel called The Blue Fox

published by UK publisher Telegram in 2008.

The novel about a search or an elusive blue

ox 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 o my book, said Sjn. Stories

should travelwherever you go, you match

them to your reality.

The Blue Fox was translated rom a bridge

languagein this case Victoria Cribbs

English translationby Palestinian poetMazen Maarou. Cribbs translation was

used or Chinese, Romanian and Turkish

translations as well, and because Sjn,

whose English is excellent, had worked in

collaboration with Cribb, he elt comortable

with the arrangement. Happily or both Sjn

and Maarou, the latter is currently a guest

writer in Reykjavik under the ICORN program,

which oers sae havens or 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.

Maarou may have his work cut out or him i

Arabic-language readers take to Sjns work.

Sjn is currently nishing the last book o a

trilogy (working title The Sleeping Door) that

he began in 1984.

Its almost like it was written by three

dierent people, said Sjn, whose career as

an author, playwright, screenwriter, librettist

and lyricist or singer and songwriter Bjrk

has fourished in Iceland and abroad over the

past thirty years. His three books published

with Telegram, The Blue Fox, From the Mouth

o the Whale (shortlisted or this yearsInternational 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 refection o and

provides a device to examine a generation

o 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.


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N03

EPUB3: Truly Global Reading System

The Forum, an international trade and

standards organization or the digital

publishing industry, supports the EPUB3

ormat as part o its mission to oster the

development o an open, global ecosystem

or digital publishing.

McCoy told publishers EPUB3 had solved

the global language problem through the

level o support it oers, including eatures

such as right to let page progression and

text progression, and refowable Arabic,which adjusts the text on screens o dierent

sizes. Phonetic annotation useul or

languages including Arabic, Japanese, Thai

and Vietnamese - is also among the global

language support eatures EPUB3 includes.

The whole web platorm will become better

or global languages. You shouldnt have to

express Arabic by Western norms, McCoy

declared.

But he said more contributors were needed

rom the Arabic world to help with the

development o the ormat. The IDPF is

producing an EPUB3 Reading System Test

Suite, an extensive set o tests that can

be run or unctionality, and needs more

input rom Arabic language speakers. I

you want Kobo, iBooks and Barnes & Nobleall supporting Arabic wonderully 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

rst-class citizen in thiS new world.

McCoy said he perceived Arabic publishers

as currently still more earul than eager

about digital books, with the state o the

market exactly as it was in the US three

years ago, in Japan one and a hal years ago.

But, with digital revenues in the US rising

rom nothing to $1bn within three years and

now standing at 20-30% o revenue or the

major US publishers, there is the potentialor the rest o the world to match that rapid

growth, he said.

But McCoy urged the Arabic publishing

community not to get locked in to a

proprietary ormat such as Amazon Kindle

and instead to support EPUB3 as an open,

ree-to-use ormat driven by the needs o the

commercial publishing industry.

by Benedicte Page

More help rom Arabic

publishers is needed to make

EPUB3 a truly global reading

system, Bill McCoy, Executive

Director o the International

Digital Publishing Forum,

has told ADIBF.

IDPF headcalls or more

involvement romArabic publishing

community

Amazon people never speak o digital

books or e-books, only Kindle books,

he said. They are aiming to control

the denition o what a digital book is.

Publishers and authors would be oolish toallow one company to own that denition.

Publishers should by all means use

proprietary ormats or experimenting with

digital, he said, but reiterated: We want

to eliminate sole-source, single-vendor

dependencies. We think a neutral source o

technology makes sense, even i it can be

commercially enhanced by vendors.


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24 - 29 April 2013

The UAEU has been developing online

learning resources through iTunes U or its

oundation course students, who, ollowing

a government initiative, have been taught

via iPad since the start o the academic

year. The university has converted existing

in-house content using iBooks Author and,

in the past ew weeks, created new content

specically or the platorm.Deputy provost Proessor Rob Whelan and

Pamela Johnson o the universitys General

Requirements Unit told ADIBF that the

iPad is working as a catalyst or teaching

and learning. It oers the opportunity to

teach in what has been termed a fipped

classroom, where students rst learn a

topic at home beore being able to spend

classroom time using their knowledge in

active problem-solving, they said.

The iBooks Author unctions which have

proved useul include being able to tap

words to access denitions, 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 rom scratch via thetechnology also enables teaching sta to

use as much color photography as they

please an unaordable luxury in print

publication and to oer immediate

eedback or students via multiple choice

questions which give them an instant

indication o whether their answers are

right or wrong. Students can also work in

pairs, playing the role o examiner and

student, asking questions and timing the

speed o replies.

Whelan said: The technology oers a

richness o 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 o

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 o a didactic

approach just standing and teaching to

move into a better place.

Questioned as to whether the UAEU was

rushing too ast into an education method

which has yet to have proper assessment,Johnson said: I we waited or 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

inormation as they leaed through paper

texts.

TEC 5: Interactive eBooksTransforming Teaching at UAEU

Interactive teaching materials

created through the iBooks

Author programme aresignifcantly increasing

student engagement and

pushing teachers to use

more exciting classroom

methods, according to sta

at the United Arab Emirates

University.

AppleiBooks Author

is key componento new strategy

by Benedicte Page


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24 - 29 April 2013

Illusrtration of the Day: David Macedo


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ADIBF 2013 - Show Daily 3

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