Doha: The 11th Katara Arabic Novel Festival wound up Sunday after proving that the consecutive cultural events of this kind of festival are not merely casual, but rather a bridge to share knowledge and innovation.
Positioning itself as an immeasurable event, the festival culminated in several initiatives and projects marking the 20th anniversary of the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel.
Foremost of these projects marked the launch of the Katara International Prize for Novels, which is open to novels written in English, French, and Spanish and offers space to non-Arab novelists to participate and forge cultural rapproachment.
Interestingly, a project has been announced to transform unpublished novels and historic novels into AI-powered movies, alongside the launch of the Katara Youth Novel Competition dedicated to college students throughout the Arab region.
The festival featured a broad range of events that ranged from 15-plus panel discussions to training workshops for adults and young people, as Katara’s third book fair has been a haven for those who love reading and showcased modern releases of participating publishing houses.
Also showcased were puppet theater performances inspired by young adult novels, with fine artists engaging in drawing paintings inspired by illustrious novels from Saudi Arabia, which had been selected as a guest of honor for this festival.
Katara vows to build on this initiative in the upcoming festivals, which has been connected to the motto of novels converging people, with the participation of twin novelists, one Qatari and the other from one of the Arab nations selected as a guest of honor.
On Saturday, a panel discussion was held on promoting novels and the cultural economy, addressed by Director of Events and Cultural Affairs at Katara, Khaled Abdulrahim Al Sayed, and Dr. Hayat Qattat Al Qarmadhi, Tunisian University Professor. It was moderated by Jamal Al Ardawi, Novelist and Media Professional.
The panel drilled down on how novels contribute to creating the cultural economy, with Al Sayed presenting a holistic definition of cultural engineering and its relationship with the economy.
The notion of cultural engineering emerged in France in the 1970s, he said, addressing the criteria of this engineering and discussing the key elements of a successful cultural project, namely continuity and endurance.
Al Sayed further noted that governments should undertake a role in developing benchmarks for the success of economic cultural projects. He talked about the challenges facing the promotion of the cultural economy, which literally include shortages of laws that protect intellectual property, the cultural policies that undergird the literal economy, and the emergence of cutting-edge technologies like AI.
Literature is the epicenter, as per the approved classification for cultural promotion, with novels being the evolutionary cultural industry and the host of the other creative cultural industries that surround this epicenter, Al Qarmadhi underlined.
She further added that novels are not merely texts, but rather cultural products rich with visions and ideas that can be further marketed and published.
Merging novels in the cultural economy commences with the publication and distribution stage, with literal texts being morphed into salable and circulated books in domestic and international markets by virtue of libraries and fairs, Al Qarmadhi pointed out.
She affirmed that this process metastasizes into translation and film adaptations of novels, thereby broadening new horizons for novels in creative industries.
Most novels that achieve mass sales generate substantial financial returns through sales, translation, and new editions, she said.
The festival’s closing day featured two expert panels featuring participants namely Dr. Badran bin Lahsan, Dr. Mokhtar Khawaja, Dr. Nebras Ibrahim, and moderator Dr. Seko Marfa Tori.
Discussions focused on dialogue, peacebuilding, intellectual property, and legal protection.
The second panel featured Dr. Sheikh Tamim bin Mohammed Al-Thani, Legal Expert at the Amiri Diwan, Dr. Abdullah Misfer Al Shahwani, Academic and Professor of Criminal Law, Khaled Mohammed Al Harami, Legal Consultant and Lawyer, and Head of the Cultural Literature Department at Katara, Mohammed Al Shahwani.
