Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), as well as Markus Dohle, CEO of Random House, will be attending the 12th annual Publishers Conference, which is being held on the sidelines of the 41st Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF). A fireside chat on emerging industry trends and expert predictions of the future is a great opportunity to hear from two industry leaders.

 As part of the event on November 1, Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi and Dohle will discuss key industry themes, including how to manage challenges related to the changing market landscape.

 Bodour Al Qasimi, who has leveraged her exemplary vision and global partnerships during her IPA presidency to design the InSPIRE initiative – an unprecedented and hugely successful strategy in bringing the global publishing community together to adopt a truly unified multi-stakeholder vision of the industry for the post-pandemic era – will engage with Dohle on important topics like digital transformation, freedom to publish, and diversity and inclusion.  

 Bodour Al Qasimi noted: “As the publishing industry comes out of a pandemic to build a better, more resilient future for all, knowledge on how successful businesses are navigating challenges and undergoing digital transformations, will be key to industrywide growth and recovery. Discussions and expertise exchange serve as the lifeblood of our industry, and now more than ever, we need to put our heads together to build a resilient, future-proof sector”.

 Markus Dohle said: “I am deeply honored to be invited to attend Sharjah International Book Fair’s 12th annual Publishers Conference for a fireside conversation with Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi. Looking forward to spending time in Sharjah and learning about long-term growth possibilities in the Gulf region, from increasing readership to publishing local voices”.

 Publishers Conference 12 will take place in Expo Centre Sharjah from October 30 – November 1. The three-day conference will host over 12 discussions led by senior professionals and experts who will share their thoughts on how to capitalise on key emerging business trends in digital publishing and the audiobook market, discuss supply chain challenges and present solutions, and discuss emerging opportunities in translations and multilingual publishing.