Sharjah: The Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) closed the curtain on the activities of its 40th session, on Saturday, November 13, 2021, after clocking 1,692,463 visitors during its 11-day event held under the theme, ‘There is always a right book’.
According to statistics released by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), females accounted for 51.9 per cent of SIBF visitors. As for age groups, 52.2 per cent were aged between 16 and 30; 35.5 per cent, between 31 and 45; 11.1 per cent, 46 years and older; and 1.3 per cent were under 15.
Nearly 20,000 visitors took part in the 11-day fair more than once; while thousands visited the exhibition three to seven times—some even made several visits in one day.
The fair received visitors from 109 nationalities, and the UAE took first place, followed by India, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Pakistan, Iraq, the Philippines, Morocco, Tunisia, Morocco and Sudan.
The 40th SIBF had become the world’s biggest book fair, organises Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) said on November 5, 2021. For the first time since its launch in 1982, the fair topped all international book fairs in terms of buying and selling copyrights for the year 2021, outperforming international book fairs more than hundreds of years old.
SIBF 2021 brought together more than 1,632 publishers from 83 countries and 15 million books.
The book fair also offered more than 1,000 activities, including 440 cultural sessions, as well as 355 children’s presentations, performances, seminars and workshops.