As part of Sharjah’s Guest of Honour (GoH) programme at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) 2022, the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA) organized two panel discussions to engage the publishing community professionals in Italy and from around the world to deliberate on some of the biggest publishing trends in the industry and discuss key and emerging issues in the field of children’s literature.
The two sessions brought together a panel of experts, including Tamer Saeed, General Manager of Kalimat Group; Dr. Alyazia Khalifa, Founder of Al Fulk Translation and Publishing; and Lina Shabaro, Copyrights Manager, Thaqafa Publishing and Distribution.
Held under the Bologna Book Plus programme, the first session titled ‘Changing Trends in the Publishing Industry: Addressing the Fear of New Technology in Publishing’, spotlighted the need for publishers to find ways to adapt to become agile and embrace digital innovations, and explored how often publishers must adopt new technology to meet the needs of its modern readers.
The session, moderated by Mariam Al Obaidli, Corporate Communications Director at EPA, also discussed the challenges faced by Arab publishers that prevent them from venturing into the digital market, including the absence of legislation to protect the works of publishers from piracy and the prevailing gaps in knowledge to manage digital content.
