This year’s spectacular Sharjah International Book Fair dwarfs the first book fair in Frankfurt 561 years ago. In Sharjah, Arab and foreign publishers displayed more than 1.5 million books more than half in Arabic and the rest in other languages. Launched in 1982, the fair has become one of the largest in the Arab world and has attracted millions of visitors.

During the Medieval period, books were laboriously handwritten by religious scholars in the Arab world and elsewhere. In 2015, Birmingham University experts dated a Quran manuscript to 568 to 645 AD, making it one of the oldest in the world. Manuscripts — often beautifully illuminated — were expensive, rare, and found in the libraries of the wealthy, houses of worship, and universities. Literacy was a luxury. As early as the 12th century, Frankfurt held events for selling handwritten texts.

The printing press, invented in 1440 by German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg, mechanised book making and made books available to the public, initiating a revolution which today continues to shape the work and lives of writers, publishers, printers, booksellers, and readers. In 1454, he launched his printing press by producing a 42-line Bible, the first book to be printed in the West. This was a dramatic moment in the history of information and learning as scientists, philosophers, politicians, and religious officials could reach wide readerships once people learned to read.

Italian presses became the first to print books with Arabic movable type, and a complete Arabic Quran was published between 1537 and 1538 in Venice for export to the Ottoman Empire.

The 1462 Frankfurt book fair drew booksellers from around Europe, was a great success and became an annual event attracting publishers, booksellers, and readers from across the world. During the 19th century, Western book fairs became increasingly popular as literacy rates rose and newly literate people wanted books. The London book fair was belatedly established in 1971.

Book fairs not only promote the publishing business and sell books but also foster literacy and diversity and celebrate literature. Book fairs attract authors who give readings from their works and mix with the public, giving readers and potential readers the opportunity to meet writers they have heard about or admire.

On the sidelines of book fairs, there are events and workshops intended to encourage children to read at a time the young are captivated by televisions, mobile phones, social media, and internet games. While television became a distraction from reading in the 1950s, these other developments have dramatically multiplied challenges to reading.

Reading is the main means of learning a language for children and adults alike. My daughter Marya, who edits books, has found that eager would-be authors produce incomprehensible computer scripts because they do not read and have not acquired the skills to write anything a publisher might consider.

Book fairs have always been a source of challenges, including censorship and piracy. During the 16th century, the Catholic Church banned books branded heretical and insisted that banned books should not be displayed and sold at book fairs.

The US which claims to be the exemplar of freedom of speech — which is sanctified in the first amendment of the country’s constitution — has, in recent years, banned the freedom to read. Indeed, the US is probably the most flagrant book banner on earth. Conservative groups, parents, teachers, special interests, and politicians engage in the widespread practice of book banning which has increased dramatically. At mid-year PEN America recorded 3,362 instances of book bans in US public school classrooms and libraries, denying students access to 1,557 book, the works of over 1,480 authors, illustrators, and translators. Female and black authors are most frequently targeted.

While I was visiting my daughter in the generally liberal West Coast state of Oregon last month we went to a Barnes and Nobel branch where on a table at the centre of the shop was a sample collection of banned books. Among the banned classics were “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, “The Colour Purple,” by Alice Walker, “The Handmaids Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “Ulysses,” by James Joyce, and “The Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding. The banned children’s books also included classics: “The Lorax” by Dr. Suess — to which loggers objected as it is critical of logging — and “Harry Potter” by J.K. Rowling — which refers to witchcraft and magic. The banners clearly ignored the fact that millions of US children have seen the “Harry Potter” films.

Piracy has also stirred major controversies. Publishers have entered pirated books in fairs, leading to losses in sales of legitimate publishers and harming authors. Twentieth century laws have attempted to stamp out piracy but have not succeeded totally. My book, “The Battle of Beirut,” about Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, was legally published in English in London and Boston and illegally translated into Arabic and issued in separate editions in occupied East Jerusalem and Amman.

The emergence of e-books and digital publishing have also challenged publishing and book fairs but they have adapted in order to survive. Book fairs call for expensive investments for organisers and publishers. Organisers have to secure sponsorship, rent premises, provide display facilities, advertise, and invite personalities to attract attendees. Publishers must pay entrance and stall fees, transport books, and pay for promotional materials such as posters and leaflets. Nevertheless, book fairs have proven to be good business for all concerned. This is why the Sharjah fair has blossomed and prospered over more than 40 years.

Photo: Gulf Today