The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) brought the curtains down on its ‘Creative Publishing Café’ on Saturday, September 21, 2019, organised at Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone (SPCFZ), as part of the Sharjah World Book Capital 2019 celebrations.

Bader Mohammed Saab, Coordinator General of ‘Creative Publishing Café’, honoured the participating institutions, including the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa), Sharjah Entrepreneurship Foundation (Ruwad) and Sharjah Youth Council.

The five-day event highlighted the importance of keeping pace with the emirate’s cultural journey, and the need to encourage young people to invest in the cultural field by raising their awareness about the importance of this sector.

The Creative Publishing Café showcased successful models in the publishing industry to highlight the importance of keeping abreast of the rapid developments in the digital transformation environment, to be able to cater to market requirements. The event was designed to motivate young people to consider investment in cultural projects as a business activity that would yield cultural dividends. In fact, cultural investment has increasingly become the focus of attention in many countries.

The event was organised in the backdrop of the growing intellectual and cultural movement in the emirate of Sharjah, fueled by high-profile literary and art events.

The five-day event featured a series of panel discussions organised by Ruwad, Sheraa and  the Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone, which conducted a session on copyright laws. Poetry evenings, workshops and live Oud performances were also held as part of the Creative Publishing Café.