Topic: Sharjah Book Fair

‘Access Sharjah’, a programme to support innovative start-ups from around the world venturing into the publishing and digital content sector.

The discussion titled, ‘From Bat, to Book, to Bollywood’, was moderated by presenters Kris Fade and Priti Malik; both dove into meaty questions on the celebs’ relationship with books and reading through their formative years, their creative journeys, and of course, their take on screen adaptations of books.

Jokha Alharthi, the first author from the Arabian Gulf to win the prestigious 2019 Man Booker International Prize and the first Omani woman to be translated into English, took the podium on the second day of the Sharjah International Book Fair 2019 to discuss Celestial Bodies, the novel that won her the coveted honour.

The initiative is carried out to action His Highness’s directives on continually updating the emirate’s libraries with valuable reading materials and resources in history, literature, politics, arts, science, technology, and others to serve students, researchers and intellectuals with the latest publications in Arabic and international languages.

“I’m realistic,” he said, “I know conventional advice is to follow your dream, and work hard, focus on positive affirmations and you’ll be successful and happy. But a lot of people have got into trouble that way. Unless you have the right idea about what success is for you, you can achieve all these goals and still be miserable.”

When explaining the story behind the origins of Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken china and sealing the cracks with gold, she pointed out that it symbolically and spiritually reflected human suffering and repair. Showing stunning imagery of delicate China with blazing trails of gold cut through them at ragged angles, Celine highlighted the five stages of Kintsugi and how they represented human suffering.