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| Ahmed Al Ameri, chairman of the Sharjah Book Authority | |
Sharjah's "Publishing City," located on the main road between Dubai and Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, will open in January. The Bookseller reported that project is set to launch its first phase at end of the month, with between 140 and 180 international publishers involved, including representatives from the U.K., U.S., India, China and Africa. A second phase of development is planned to bring the number of publishers located in the city up to 400 by the end of April. It will also feature a bookshop.
The two-story Publishing City building will house publishers, translators, distributors, printers and paper traders, all exempt from taxes. Ahmed Al Ameri, chairman of the Sharjah Book Authority, described it as "an A-Z of everything for books, even e-books."
"What we are trying to do is a United Nations of books, 365 days of continuous book fairs, a lot of programs and training, panels, discussion," said Al Ameri. "We think 800 to 1,500 people will be located there initially, and for later we are talking about 10,000."