São Paulo – Books with attachments like pianos, guitars, stools and pens for colouring only when wet. The different formats are the bet of Cedic – the Centre for Diffusion of Culture to enter the Arab market, in the kid’s book sector. For this, the Brazilian publishing house is going to participate, with its own stand, in the 21st edition of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, to take place from March 15th to 20th, in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.
"We are going to take values like friendship, responsibility, respect, justice and transversal themes, like bullying, Afro culture, Indian culture, racism, inclusion and nutrition, among others," said Carlos Eduardo de Bruin Cavalheiro Filho, the Production director at Cedic, regarding the matters covered in books. The different formats include musical books, books for painting, books with holography, books to take into the bath, etc.
Today, Cedic exports to 20 countries. In 2010 alone, 300,000 books were sold abroad. Exports began two years ago and, currently, the main buyers of books made by the publishing house from the city of Belo Horizonte, capital of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, are Mexico, Guatemala, Australia, the Netherlands, Greece, Argentina and Costa Rica.
The books for export are produced in Brazil, also in English and Spanish. To the countries that speak other languages, the publishing house sends files in English and receives the translation in the local language for printing. Cavalheiro said it is possible to use the same system for editions in Arabic.
This year, apart from the event in Abu Dhabi, Cedic should also participate in fairs in Bologne, London, Guadalajara, Buenos Aires, New York and Frankfurt. This is the first time that the publishing house participates in a fair in the Arab world. "The Emirates are growing and we had not yet reached that market. It is a region with great potential, and that is what attracted us to the fair," explained Cavalheiro.
In the line of children’s books, Cedic works with 110 titles, of which 50 will be exhibited in the fair in Abu Dhabi. "We will be taking 17 novelties," said the Production director. "We think that good business may be done in the children’s books sector," he bets.
More Brazil
Beatrice Stauffer, the sales executive of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, explains that despite Cedic being the only Brazilian publishing house participating in the event this year, it has already been approached by several other Brazilian publishing houses showing interest in taking their publications to the Arab world.
"I am going to discuss with the National Union of Book Publishers the possibility of organizing a collective stand for Brazilian publishing houses in the Abu Dhabi fair in 2012," she said.
According to Beatrice, there are opportunities for Brazilian books in the area of renewable energy, like solar, for example, as well as publications in the area of science, technology and medicine. "There is also interest in children’s books, which may be by Brazilian authors who are descendants of citizens of the Levant," she pointed out.
Arab literature
The fair should also bring together important Arab authors in the awarding ceremony to define the winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2011. The nominees are Moroccan poet Mohammed Achaari; Saudi novelist Raja Alem; Egyptian writer Khaled Al-Berry; Moroccan novelist and script writer Bensalem Himmich; Sudanese novelist Amir Taj al-Sir and the Egyptian Arabic literature professor Miral Al-Tahawy.
*Translated by Mark Ament
