Nicola here! Today I’m musing on book fairs and literary festivals. Ten days ago I had the huge honour and pleasure of being invited to speak at the Sharjah Book Fair in the UAE. Despite the fact that this is the third biggest book fair in the world and has been running for 35 years, I hadn’t heard of it before (my bad) and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Those who had experienced it told me it was a fascinating mixture of a book fair and a literary festival, but I’m so glad I had the chance to see it for myself. It was an amazing experience.
We arrived in Dubai late on a Wednesday evening. As the time difference between the UK and 
the UAE is 4 hours it was already dark. Seeing Dubai lit up at night had a wow factor though. It reminded me of Las Vegas in terms of the bright lights and sense of excitement. The other thing we quickly learned was that the traffic was appalling. We were stuck in a traffic jam for two hours and apparently it’s always bad except on a Friday morning which most people have as time off work.
That night there was only really time to settle into our lovely hotel, but in the morning we were due to take a cultural tour to the Al-Noor mosque and the central souk. The first thing that struck me about the day was that it was sunny. And hot! It was a wonderful change from the grey late-autumn skies of the UK.
The Al-Noor Mosque is one of only three that are open to the public in Sharjah and it is of a stunning Turkish Ottoman design. Inside the soaring pillars and glorious architecture made it so imposing and awe-inspiring. Quite simply it was one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen. Our guide told us some of the history of the building and the worship, and also gave us a talk on traditional dress for both men and women. It was fascinating to learn about the dress codes and to be able to try on the different styles of clothing. Our visit finished with a cup of delicious coffee flavoured with cardamom. I’m not a coffee-drinker but I’m so glad I tried it as it was fantastic. One of my companions on the visit was a food vlogger from Canada, the lovely Pailin Chongchitnant, was a joy to be with as she was so interested in learning about the local food and drink, and was so knowledgeable.
From the mosque we drove to the central souk. There is a lot of water in Sharjah City, both the 
sea front and various lagoons, which give the whole place a lovely, open air feeling. The souk wasn’t quite what I was expecting – I had hoped for an ancient marketplace but it was actually a modern shopping centre. However it was packed with traditional clothing and jewellery. There was gold. Lots of gold!
That afternoon it was time to head over to the Sharjah Expo centre to experience the book fair and first hand. Frankly it was quite overwhelming – five enormous halls packed full of booksellers covering all subjects from historical fiction to biography, science and religion. There were jugglers, circus acts, dancers and live shows including Pailin cooking delicious Thai food in the live kitchen demonstrations. However my panel talk was taking place that evening and I was too nervous to eat anything!
I needn’t have worried. My fellow panel members were an absolute delight and the discussion we had on “why writers are drawn to writing about historical people and places” was lively and interesting. We covered lots of ground, from the idea of using history as a way to root ourselves in “the big picture” to studying history in order to learn from past experience. As a writer of genre fiction I said that I felt it was important to make history accessible to people and entertain them as well as portray a historically accurate tale. The audience asked lots of questions and the whole session had a buzz about it. I discovered that this was where the book fair idea mingled with the literary festival idea as the two programmes, having a literary salon and bookselling opportunities, ran alongside one another.
Once I’d finished the talk my appetite returned so I ate a chocolate pancake and set out to enjoy 
an evening at the book fair, wandering amongst the stalls, watching the demonstrations, listening to some talks, and visiting various exhibitions. My favourite exhibit was the University of Birmingham’s display of one of the oldest copies of the Qur’an in the world but my absolute favourite thing about the book fair itself was that it was packed with people who were so excited about reading, books and writing, and that there were so many children there and they were all engaged in reading and learning. It was fabulous and the festival's tagline of"The World in my Book" seemed exactly right for such a big celebration of the joys of reading!
The following day we had hoped to visit the old fort and one of the museums in the heritage quarter before flying back to the UK in the afternoon, but as everything is closed on a Friday morning so we made do with a walk on the beach and a paddle in the glorious blue waters! It was a flying visit but full of amazing experiences and I’ll never forget it!
Have you visited a book fair or a literary festival? What do you enjoy when you go to an event like that? And why do you think people enjoy reading – and writing – about the past? I’m offering a copy of The Phantom Tree to one commenter between now and midnight Thursday.
