Among the millions of books from different languages ​​in the world, and in one of the most famous libraries in the European continent, the Sharjah Book Authority, yesterday, organized a seminar at the National Library of Spain, entitled «Contemporary challenges of culture and intellectuals in the world».

The symposium was attended by Emirati and Spanish creators: novelist Fathia Al-Nimr, writer Nadia Al-Najjar, Spanish publisher and writer Emmanuel Pimentel, and moderated by Salih Obeid.

The seminar, which is part of the celebration of the Emirate of Sharjah, was the guest of honor of the 37th edition of Libre International Book Fair - Madrid 2019, a review of the most common and special challenges faced by the writer in the creative scene of the UAE and his Spanish counterpart.

Fathia al-Nimr opened the session by talking about the importance of time in the writer's life. “I have been writing for years,” she said. “Before I decided to work full-time, I was very good at organizing and arranging my time to be able to write. In many cases, I realized that I was giving time to the expense of many of my obligations in life. "He can organize his time."

The UAE novelist stressed that the reality of publishing led many writers to stop, and this was manifested in the phenomenon of «orphan book», as often the printing of the first work of the writer is unsuccessful, because he himself carries out its full task, and therefore stop writing, saying it failed.

She considered that the absence of the literary editor and the agent for Arabic publishing in general poses a great challenge for the writer, especially in light of the fact that many publishers refer to undeclared committees to evaluate and approve books.

Between the writer and the publisher

For his part, the writer and publisher, Emmanuel Pimentel, that «within each writer spirit poet, and within each publisher spirit merchant, so the writers who engage in publishing a great challenge to overcome, which is to learn how to love the writers of other authors more than their love for their writings» . He pointed to one of the most important challenges facing contemporary writer today in various countries of the world, «literary awards, representing the institutional and collective recognition of the value of the writer, has placed many in the problem of writing to win prizes, which led them towards politicization, abandonment of some values, and the invocation to Authentic experiences and write freely ».

He added that «awards are important, but more important is good writing, it will be appreciated even if decades later».

Distinctive experience

For her part, the creative Nadia Najjar touched on her own experience in writing for children after she issued a number of novels for adults. “I had a child writing experience after my little boy asked me, 'Why don't you write to us?' I joined a number of specialized workshops, read a lot of books in children's literature and started, and realized after the first work, how beautiful it is to read your young children, and although the challenge was at the level of transition and change in the methods, language and concepts that I used to, but it was an experience Distinctive and still related ». On the challenges of first publishing, she added: "The past 10 years in the UAE have witnessed a significant growth in the number of publishing houses and in the quality of their work at all levels. This exceeded the previous challenge faced by the Emirati writer in dealing with publishers from outside his country."

The seminar is part of the celebration of Sharjah, the guest of honor of the 37th edition of the International Book Fair - Madrid 2019.

The last 10 years in the UAE have witnessed a significant growth in the number of publishing houses and in the quality of their work.