Books valued at AED 176 million were sold at the recently concluded Sharjah International Book Fair, SIBF.

This year marked the 35th edition of the world’s third largest book fair and was the most successful to date, according to the organisers.

Held under the theme ‘Read More,’ the SIBF 2016 hosted more than 2.31 million visitors over 11 days, with the footfall figures breaking all previous records since the first fair in 1982. Also, the sale of books was the greatest in the 35 year history of the fair.

Hosting 1,681 publishing houses from 60 countries with approximately 1.5 million titles on display, SIBF 2016 ran from November 2nd to 12th at Expo Centre Sharjah.

Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, Chairman of Sharjah Book Authority, SBA, said, "The UAE leadership’s decision to promote reading and a love of books has been an instrumental factor in making this year’s edition of the fair its most successful to date. H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, has been the strongest supporter of the event, having believed in its potential from the very first edition three-and-a-half decades ago."

The chairman of SBA stressed that the 35th edition of the book fair boosted SBA’s ambition to make SIBF the world’s number one fair, in terms of number of visitors and total sales.