The objective of Livres Canada Books in organizing the trade mission to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates was to report on the U.A.E. as a potential market for Canadian publishers in terms of rights sales and distribution. In view of the increasing interest in this market, 2019 presented an excellent opportunity for the Association and the Canadian publishing industry to seek trusted intelligence in this market. The Livres Canada Books delegation consisted of fourteen Canadian publishers, active in trade, children’s and scholarly publishing and with an interest in or dealings with the Arab market, accompanied by Livres Canada Books’ Executive Director, François Charette.

The delegation travelled to Sharjah from October 27-31, 2019 and met with relevant Arab publishers, distributors, associations, government officials and visited bookstores in order to gain an understanding of the different facets of the Arab publishing market. The Executive Director also met with Georgia Clark, Cultural Arts Officer of the Embassy to discuss possible future support and to build upon the work and findings of the Trade Mission.

Following the success of the trade mission to Sharjah, Livres Canada Books felt that a Canadian presence at the Sharjah International Book Fair would build on the momentum of the mission. Livres Canada Books will consider the feasibility of a collective Canadian presence at future editions of the Sharjah International Book Fair.

This contact list is a complement to the briefing webinar that we held on January 22nd, 2020. The goal was to share experience learned with publishers that did not have the opportunity to take part in the mission.