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The 25th anniversary edition of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) wrapped up on a high yesterday with a record 269,680 visitors generating sales in excess of AED 35 million during the seven days of opening .
The annual gathering of authors, publishers, industry professionals and booksellers is organised by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
Celebrating its Silver Jubilee edition, ADIBF 2015 featured a series of exhibition, panels and seminars under the theme ‘Sheikh Zayed: light illuminates the future’ dedicated to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the UAE, who was this year’s focus personality.
This year also saw dramatic growth in the number of young visitors attend the Fair, with 56,600 pupils and students from 1,415 schools and universities attending, an increase of 17% on last year.
Tribute was also played to the literary production of the Republic of Iceland, this year’s Guest of Honour, and the cream of the island’s literary scene provided a fascinating insight into this Nordic country’s artistic output and talented authors.
This year’s edition attracted a quality audience due to the increase in the number of exhibitors, a total of 600 authors and 1,181 publishers from 63 countries participated in the event, an increase of 5 and 10 percent respectively. They displayed more than 500,000 titles in 30 languages.
The fair’s 2015 Professional Programme hosted more than 100 sessions and over 70 speakers, and introduced the ADIBF Academy Programme, designed to impart professional skills to participants in preparation for a career in either education or publishing in the 21st Century. The Spotlight on Rights grant subsidy scheme also attracted 200 applications during the course of the fair.
Planning for the 26th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, set to run from 27 April – 3 May 2016 at ADNEC, is already underway and will welcome Italy as the Guest of Honour and have an increased focus on e-publishing and an extended professional and cultural programme.
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