The Kuwaiti Dar Shaghaf Publishing House (DSPH) has a special pavilion at the 32nd Doha International Book Fair (DIBF), which concludes Wednesday at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.
Abdulrahman Shehab, the general manager, DSPH, speaking to Gulf Times said: “I see that the Doha International Book Fair (DIBF) is very attractive, especially after the great and strong achievement realised by Qatar in organising the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Certainly, the DIBF is very strong.
"The organisation is excellent in all respects. We always say that Doha has raised our heads in the World Cup, and represented us in a great way. It is expected that the DIBF will be at this level of strength, as well as the accompanying activities such as lectures, poetry, children's oasis, and seminars. It is very nice that the exhibition includes such events. The organisation is wonderful, as usual in Doha, it is beautiful and elegant at the same time.
“Shaghaf is a Kuwaiti youth publishing house launched in 2019. From the first year, the position of the publishing house was strong in terms of business and participation in exhibitions. Our team has considerable experience, especially in the private sector. Considering that the marketing of books has become completely different from the past, we utilise all channels.
"We employ 12 people, and this is the third participation in the DIBF, and the number of our publications has reached 165. I am a graduate of the College of Education, majoring in library and information management. I gathered experience working in several commercial fields for a period of 12 years and then we entered this field with friends who have previous experience in the field of publishing and distribution, all of whom are mainly writers with more than 10 years in this field. They had energy and morale, and we launched this house.”
With regard to the technological development, Abdulrahman Shehab believes that the paper book is in demand in the Gulf countries and that for e-books it is still weak. "Even many e-book platforms could not continue. They opened for a year or two and suffered a definite loss. Most of them closed. So far, the paper book is what is required, and we are marketing the book electronically through social media. Currently, there is no danger to the paper book from the e-book in the Middle East. As for Dar Shaghaf, we are present in all countries and we try to maintain prices, by country, because printing costs in Kuwait are high compared to prices, for example in Lebanon or Egypt, where it should be sold at an affordable price, unlike the prices in Gulf countries,” Shehab concluded.