The fifth Sharjah Booksellers Conference, held September 19–20 at Expo Centre Sharjah in the UAE, drew 912 participants from 99 countries and hosted more than 300 professional meetings, according to the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), which organizes the event.

Participants included booksellers, distributors, publishers, and online bookselling platforms. The conference featured 65 exhibitors from 29 countries, and first-time participants came from Costa Rica, Kosovo, Peru, Portugal, Ukraine, and Zambia. The program centered on developing bookselling businesses, diversifying revenue for independent bookstores, and improving access to titles in local and international markets.

"The broader the attendee network becomes on our event platform, the greater the opportunities for books to reach new markets and readers," said Mansour Al Hassani, director of publishing services at SBA. He added that the aim is for participants to "see the impact of their meetings extend well beyond the conference's two days."

The event also draws North American publishers looking to expand their networks. Shawn Abraham, VP of international sales at Hachette Book Group, said he uses the conference to meet Hachette's current regional partners as well as potential new partners.

"We meet people here whom we have known for years, as well as others we are meeting for the first time, and we look for new ways to work together," he said.

Sharing best practices

In a keynote speech, Adi Ekatama, director of the publishing division of Gramedia in Indonesia, traced the company's evolution from a traditional bookstore into a broader retail business and its more recent return to bookselling as its core identity. He said changing reader behavior, the growth of e-commerce, and the rise of community-focused independent bookstores are reshaping the role of physical shops.

"Today we are choosing to be a bookstore again, because we believe the greatest purpose of books is to keep us human," he said.

Another keynote speaker, Brigitte Boulad of Diwan Bookstores in Egypt, described how the bookstore developed an events series, Diwan's Cultural Hub, which covers a wide range of subjects, from climate and fashion ethics to music and storytelling.

"We want to make the initiative reachable to everybody and bring together different ages, communities, and walks of life," she said.

Attendees chose from 14 international workshops and six Arabic-language workshops. Sessions for independent booksellers covered attracting nonreaders, building a shared national marketplace for independent stores, revenue diversification, and supply chain management. Digital sessions addressed metadata's role in e-book sales, print-on-demand, social media, and using AI to understand customers. A track on Arabic book distribution examined co-publishing, logistics hubs, and the use of international book fairs to expand the reach of Arabic titles.

A series of roundtables looked at how bookstores can reach new audiences and build communities around books.

Andrew Yap, CEO of Malaysia's BookXcess and cofounder of Big Bad Wolf Books, urged booksellers to court nonreaders through store design, atmosphere, and low-cost initiatives rather than major investment. He said even a compact store can draw people in with a small seating area or complimentary coffee.

"Instead of competing for the same group of existing readers, we need to think about how we can grow that audience," Yap said. "The question is how we design the bookstore and the experience so that a non-reader comes in, becomes curious, and begins to see books as something for them."

The owner of El Retiro de Las Letras bookstore in Spain, Isabel Cristina Giraldo, argued that independent bookstores can increase their impact without expanding their footprint.

"For me, growth is not necessarily about increasing the size of the bookstore," she said. "It is about expanding our connections with the community and making smarter use of the space we already have, so readers can find what they need easily, feel comfortable in the store, and want to come back."

Among attendees from the U.S. was James Killen, director of retail operations at New York City's Manga Spot, who offered sessions covering how comics can serve as a route to reader discovery, engagement, and community building. Other roundtables were led by Steve Jones, Dubai Mall store manager at Kinokuniya UAE, on turning fandoms into foot traffic; Ajay Jain, CEO of India's Kunzum Bookstores, on the bookshop as a reading movement; and Elena Martinez, owner of Librería Serendipias in Spain, on using children's literature festivals to cultivate young readers.

PublisHer, the advocacy organization for women in publishing founded by SBA's chairperson, Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, closed the conference with one-on-one coaching sessions for women in the book industry.