Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qassimi, President of International Publishers Association, invited African publishers to participate in the third session of the African Fund for Innovation in Publishing, which includes grants totaling USD 800,000, provided by “Dubai Cares” over a period of four years in cooperation with International Publishers Association, stressing that despite the challenges that Corona pandemic has imposed on the book industry, publishers have an opportunity for a fresh start.
This has been announced during the meeting of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qassimi, with a number of members of Ghana Publishers Association and a group of local publishers, as she discussed with them, during her recent visit to Ghana, opportunities to enhance the future growth of the African publishing sector by taking advantage of the changes imposed by Corona pandemic at the global level.
Ghana's visit was done within a series of visits by the President of the International Publishers Association to a number of African countries, during which she would meet major institutions and companies of publishing industry in Africa, in order to promote dialogue and exchange knowledge and experiences and discuss the challenges faced by publishers. Sheikha Bodour believes that achieving these endeavors will pave the way for developing global partnerships and diversifying business models in the publishing industry.
During the meeting, Sheikha Bodour Al Qassimi shed light on the diversity of educational solutions in Africa, the opportunities provided by virtual education, the tendency of millions of African students to online education, in addition to the great opportunity for African publishers to have a new beginning. During the visit, the President of the International Publishers Association met the members of African Publishers Network and invited the most prominent stakeholders and concerned entities in the publishing industry to cooperate with the International Publishers Association and explore the existing opportunities.
The General Secretariat of the Arab Forum for Children’s Book Publishers has announced the opening of nominations for the 2027 Arab Forum Annual Award for the Best Children’s Book. The nomination period will run from September 1 to November 15, 2026.
This year marks the 14th edition of the Award, which is open exclusively to member publishing houses. Each year, three books are selected across the Award’s three categories to receive the Award.
The following books won the Award in the previous edition:
The General Secretariat of the Arab Forum for Children’s Book Publishers organized, on August 18, 2026, a professional seminar for Forum members entitled “Challenges Facing Children’s Book Publishers: Production and Distribution Obstacles.”
The seminar brought together a group of specialists in the field of children’s book publishing and addressed the key challenges facing Arab publishers throughout the production and distribution stages of children’s books, as well as possible approaches to addressing these challenges and overcoming obstacles that hinder the growth and development of the sector.
Participants discussed a range of issues related to the realities of children’s book publishing, beginning with production challenges and costs, and the selection of appropriate content and topics, through publishing and marketing mechanisms, to the difficulties of distribution and reaching readers. They also presented a number of proposals and solutions that could contribute to strengthening the presence of children’s books and supporting Arab publishers.
The seminar featured Dr. Mohamed Sayed Abdel Tawab, writer, critic, and Publishing Director at Nahdet Misr Publishing House; and Ms. Hadeel Maqadi, Executive Director of Al-Yasmine Publishing House – Jordan. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Mohamed Fathi, writer, academic, and General Supervisor of Arjouna Publishing House – Egypt.
The seminar was attended by approximately 30 publishers from members of the Arab Forum for Children’s Book Publishers, in addition to a number of writers and illustrators.
Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) announced that Dubai Public Libraries received Excellence Award in "I Know" Initiative, which was launched by Arab Federation for Libraries and Information; the largest professional and scientific federation for libraries and information in the Arab world, to honor libraries addressing Corona crisis, due to the distinguished services provided by libraries and their response to the needs of the public during this emergency crisis.
Dubai Culture submitted a file in which it presented the integrated role that Dubai Public Libraries played in response to the pandemic of "Covid-19". It also shed light on its work system, which included the temporary closure of libraries, internal organization and support of library staff, through the virtual follow-up and organization of works, communicating with staff, giving health instructions for them, as well as providing them with vocational training remotely.
Externally, Dubai Culture formed the remote action team to deal with libraries beneficiaries and communicate with the public during the crisis. An action plan was developed and a regular schedule was set for cultural, technical and educational programs for children and adults in Arabic and English. Social media platforms, like "Instagram," were used to broadcast the planned cultural programs and an employee was appointed to review the Arabic content before its broadcast to the public. In addition, the public inquiries were answered and responded immediately, whether by electronic means or SMS.
