NYU ‘s first publishing training seminar at their campus in Abu Dhabi, in partnership with Kitab, the joint venture of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and the Frankfurt Book Fair, hosted 30 publishing professionals from the Netherlands, Russia, Malaysia, Nigeria and Senegal as well as from the Arab world. The sessions ran from November 7-11 and Andrea Chambers, director of the NYU Center for Publishing, found it “extraordinarily rewarding to observe the educational and cultural exchange among pubishers from 14 nations.” While challenges such as piracy, censorship, distribution, finding a market niche and establishing a digital presence were discussed, the key words seemed to be vision and passion.
Monika Krauss, general manager of Kitab, continues to promote the Arab region as fertile ground for American publishers. “We have been overwhelmed by the positive response and feedback to the training program this year”, Krauss said. “We were delighted with our partnership with NYU – SCPS and the quality of the sessions. Given this response, to meet demand, and in order to ensure that as many publishers as possible can benefit, we are looking forward to the June 2011 collaboration with NYU-SCPS.”l
