From a Single Tent to a Global Powerhouse: The Remarkable Evolution of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair at 35

When the 35th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair opens on Sunday, visitors entering Adnec Centre will walk past more than 1,500 publisher stands and shelves carrying books in more than a dozen languages. Across the venue, discussions and performances will take place on six stages. The fair is running until Friday, but turn the page back a little further and its history stretches 45 years, to a far more modest beginning at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi.

The event traces its roots to 1981, when the Islamic Book Fair was launched as part of the vision of UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, to develop the country’s cultural life. Saeed Al Tunaiji, executive director of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi and the organisation behind the fair, remembers visiting that first year as a school student.

“When we look today at the fair in 1981, it was basically a tent at the Cultural Foundation,” he tells The National. “But that tent, at that moment and at that historical stage, was something enormous for us. This Cultural Foundation, this historic landmark and this tent containing all these books and all this diversity, for us it was an entirely different world, a very big world.”

He returned to the fair throughout school and university, and later with his own children. The same sense of discovery, Al Tunaiji notes, has carried across generations. “I remember very clearly acquiring books during the first fair and those that followed, and how much passion we had, how much enthusiasm, how much interest,” he says.

One of the challenges facing the inaugural Islamic Book Fair was convincing established Arab publishing houses to make the journey to Abu Dhabi. Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq were among the main centres of Arab publishing, and attracting their publishers to come to the UAE with their wares required persuasion. Once those publishers became regular delegates, more attention went towards building the presence and capacity of Emirati publishers by connecting them through the fair with the international book trade.

A 2006 agreement with Frankfurt Book Fair led to the two organisations jointly running the Abu Dhabi event from 2007 to 2013. This year, among the 95 countries taking part, a number of Latin American publishers are making their first appearance, representing Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Cuba. The fair has also become a meeting place for literary prizes, with about 20 local, Arab and international awards participating, including the Sheikh Zayed Book Award which marks its 20th ceremony this year.

This year's event will also recognise leading Emirati figures through Emirati Pioneers, a new annual initiative. Writer Mohammed Al Murr, chairman of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Library Foundation, is the first person to be honoured.

For visitors and families making their first trip, Al Tunaiji recommends giving it more than a single day to experience the cultural programme, children's activities, and the vast array of global publishers. The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair runs from Sunday to Friday at Adnec Centre, with free public entry upon online registration.