SHARJAH- The Sharjah International Book Fair’s (SIBF) Translation Grant Fund, one of the premier translation and cultural initiatives in the region, has released the translated copies of 76 new books from and to various languages, most notably Arabic, English, French, and Turkish, thanks to grants awarded by the fund to 22 publishers from around the world.
The Sharjah Government-supported Translation Grant Fund was launched by SIBF in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, during the 30th edition of SIBF, with an aim to promote the translation movement in the Arab region and the entire world through cash grants awarded to publishers to help them translate their publications into other languages.
Speaking on the occasion, Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Amri, Director of SIBF, said, “The SIBF Translation Grant has funded the translation of 76 books covering various disciplines, in commitment to the directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, to enrich Arab and global culture with new books in knowledge and science, that promote networking, religious understanding, and cross-cultural education, while supporting publishers and providing readers with a collection of the best global publications in their mother tongue.”
The translated books included 44 translations from English into Arabic, 8 books from Arabic into English, six books from French into Arabic, and five books from Turkish into Arabic.
The rest of translated books are from and into other languages, including Bosnian, Hungarian, Malayalam, German, and Romanian.
The SIBF Director went on to say that the translated books included novels that won prestigious international awards as part of the SIBF Management’s quest to achieve greater convergence of human civilizations, and enrich cross-cultural and literary exchange between various countries across the world.
The list of translated books included the novel titled‘My Father’s Room’ by Abdu Wazin, translated from Arabic into Turkish, ‘The Lost War’by Spanish author Jordi Soler, translated into Arabic, and ‘The tale of Hanna Jacob’ by Rabee Jaber, translated into Romanian.
The list also included ‘Seven Terrors’ by Bosnian author Selvedin Avdić,translated into Turkish, the book ‘Make the Air Clean’ by Jane Green, translated from English into Arabic, ‘The Beginning of Infinity’ by David Deutsch, from English to Arabic, and the French children’s book ‘My Father and My Mother and our Books and I’, which was translated into Arabic.
The SIBF Translation Grant Fund was established in 2011 in celebration of the 30th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair.
The Sharjah Government-backed Translation Fund was principally created to promote the translation of foreign books into and from Arabic to enrich Arab and global culture with books in knowledge and science that promote networking, religious understanding, and cross-cultural education.