The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) has achieved several key milestones over its three-decade journey to become a major professional fixture for regional and international publishers and a highly anticipated cultural event for the intellectuals of the UAE and the Middle East, according to Fair organiser HE Juma Al Qubaisi, ADIBF Director and Executive Director of the National Library.

Planning for the 26th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, set to run from 27 April 30 May 2016, is already underway and will see development in terms of organisation and scope of the cultural programme, something which Al Qubaisi considers remarkable given the size and scale of the extended 2015 event.
Organised annually by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, ADIBF 2015 is currently being held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) and runs until Wednesday (13 May, 2015)
Shedding light on ADIBFs contribution to consolidating professionalism in the publishing sector and the success of initiatives designed to boost expertise, Al Qubaisi, identified a number of attributes for the Fair success.

It is widely acknowledged that ADIBF is committed to copyright and intellectual property laws and categorically refuses the participation of any publishing houses that breach these laws or exhibit pirated material. This policy has substantially helped in enhancing the quality of the exhibited products, particularly when publishers realise the vital importance of copyrighting, which remains the only guarantee that everyones rights are preserved, including publishers themselves, said Al Qubaisi.

On the local level, we have noticed an increasing interest in the book industry with several intellectuals launching their own publishing houses that offer high quality works in terms of the titles and the product itself, added Al Qubaisi who also pointed out that ADIBF supports publishers in multiple ways by providing them with the opportunity to benefit from the associated professional programme that tackles a wide spectrum of publishing-related issues and showcases the industrys latest technologies.

Attracting more than 600 authors and intellectuals, ADIBF 2015 marks its Silver Jubilee 25th anniversary edition with a diverse Professional and Cultural programme of seminars and panel discussions that pays tribute to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as the focus personality. Meanwhile, 1,181 publishing houses from 63 countries are exhibiting more than 500,000 titles in 30 languages.

Due to the impressive turnout, several enhancements have been introduced to the professional programme that now offers participants certificates demonstrating that they have enough experience to work within, or start, a publishing house. Likewise, the Spotlight on Rights programme is growing in popularity, with its affiliated grant to support translation from and into Arabic helping publish more than 600 books across several areas of knowledge since 2009. All this definitely contributes to the development of the book industry, and based on our strong relationship with publishers, we will continue to upgrade our programmes and plans for the 2016 edition, said Al Qubaisi.

This year ADIBF has celebrated its Silver Jubilee, although it is more than 25 years since the inaugural edition in 1981 although it stopped for a few years before being re-launched as a regular annual event. Over the years, ADIBF has been able to establish a reputation based on solid experience to become the regions fastest-growing book fair. This foundation enables us to deliver an even more professional fair next year with a special focus on the development of e-publishing and advancing technologies, added Al Qubaisi.

The discussions will also be richer and wider in scope, taking into consideration that we have invited Italy to be the Guest of Honour and agreed with the Italian embassy to provide an exceptional and engaging Cultural Programme of activities. Of course, planning and preparing for next years edition will start immediately following the wrap-up of the current fair, concluded Al Qubaisi.