SHARJAH — The 39th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair opened on Wednesday at the Expo Centre Sharjah. Cultural ambassadors, diplomats, media professionals, and members of the community showed up bright and early as Sharjah opened the doors to the globally anticipated annual cultural celebration this morning, which concludes on Nov. 14, 2020. The fair is organized by the Sharjah Book Authority and themed "The World Reads from Sharjah". Expo Centre Sharjah will showcase more than one million books by 1,024 publishers from 73 nations at the fair. Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, chairman of the book authority, said: "The SBA has taken all preventive measures that meet the highest safety standards, in collaboration with relevant entities across the emirate," and requested the public to observe every precautionary measure as they enter. He stated that the book fair acknowledges Sharjah’s commitment to promoting knowledge and culture in the United Arab Emirates, and is proof that these will always remain at the heart of the emirate’s efforts to achieve comprehensive and equitable development, under the guidance of Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah. Expo visitors must pre-book fixed three-hour (renewable) visitation slots at registration.sibf.com. They will be given colored bracelets that will monitor their visits. The fair’s halls and publisher stalls will be sanitized and disinfected daily. The cultural program comprising 64 exciting discussions with 60 renowned authors, intellectuals, poets, politicians, and artists from 19 countries has begun on the "Sharjah Reads" virtual platform. Registrations for the discussions and workshops can be done on sharjahreads.com. Amongst the literary luminaries and global cultural figures participating in the 11-day fair are Prince Ea, Robert Kiyosaki, Lang Leav, Elisabetta Dami, Yann Martel, Neil Pasricha, Yaser Akel, Ravinder Singh, Wasini Al-A"raj, Ahmed Murad, Lina Khoury, Layla Mutawa, Ahmad Al-Rifai, Mishel Hamad, Sultan Alameemi, and Iman Al Yousef. Emirati — global dialogues, school activities and a host of social media workshops For the first time in SIBF’s history, SBA has tied up with embassies of various countries in the UAE to design eight intellectual discussions led by Emirati writers and their counterparts from Spain, Germany, France, Italy, and Russia, to name a few. SBA is collaborating with the Ministry of Education to host virtual meetings between students and their favorite authors and cultural figures. It has also announced a comprehensive schedule of social media workshops catering to all age groups. The latter half of the fair will witness the 7th edition of the Sharjah International Library Conference, from Nov. 10 to Nov. 12. Organized in collaboration with the American Library Association, the conference will convene library professionals from around the world to discuss and debate key topics around its theme, "Challenges faced by librarians and libraries during the New Normal".