One of the visiting authors was Rajaa Alsanea. Her debut novel The girls from Riyadh became a bestseller all over the world.

Another visitor was novelist, essaysist and journalist Elias Khoury. He is one of the leading figures in contemporary Arabic literature. He has published ten novels and the latest one, Bab al-shams is currently being translated into English.

At the fair, Henning Mankell visited Salon al Multaqa and its founder Asma Seddiq al Mutawa. Salon al Multaqa is a Book Club consisting of 20 young women who meet regularly to discuss Arabic and International literature. The Book Club has recently been recognized as a member in the UNESCO book clubs and has become a centre for Arabic writers and thinkers who visit the Salon.

Henning Mankell also had the honor to meet with the Algerian-born novelist and documentary film director Assia Djebar. She is one of the most famous and influential authors of North Africa, and in 2005 she was the first writer from the Maghreb to be elected to the Académie Francaise.

Interveiw with Henning Mankell at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

Mr. Mankell, what are your first impressions of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair?
 
If you enter the fair you cannot tell that you are at an Arabic book fair. It looks very modern and has a very international feel. I’m glad to be here, even though I do not have many readers in the Arabian world. But you need not forget that there is quite a high rate of illiteracy in these countries.

I have never been to this part of the world before and I was very much looking forward to coming to Abu Dhabi. I wanted to see the state of literature here. What really encourages me is to see how ambitious young women are. This is something we should not take for granted since some of the neighbouring countries are going rather backwards in that respect.
 
How important are books to you?
 
I grew up in a very isolated place in Sweden. Books gave me the opportunity to travel around all the same - in my mind, you know. And even though we today have the internet and a great amount of pictures, I am not worried about the future of books. Books will never die. What will change is the distribution. E-books mean that I can be in Africa and instantly download a book. The bookstores may disappear and that is a shame for many, but it does not mean the end of books.
 
Do you have a favourite book?
 
I love the stories of “1001 Nights”. It is one of the most important books in my life and formed my first impression of the Arabian world. I have a dream that every child in the world should read “1001 Nights”, because if every child does that, we will become much closer culturally.
 
Rumour has it that there soon will be another Wallander-novel.
 
Yes, that is true. The novel is already complete. I just have to finish a few more pages.
 
Wallander has been your constant companion for more than 20 years now. Does he sometimes get on your nerves?
 
No, I do not have a problem with him and I cannot understand authors who complain about their literary figures. After all, he is fiction and exists only in my head.
 
What is your next writing project?
 
I am currently writing a play about Charles Darwin and his captain Robert FitzRoy. It is a play about the journey aboard the “Beagle”, you might know the story. For five years, they travelled together and lived in a very confined space. And only after 14 days at sea, they had their first conflict which was very much a conflict between science and religion. You see, FitzRoy was a man with a very strong belief and Darwin was a scientist. I really believe that this play is not only about the past, but it is about the present as well, because that is exactly the conflict we still have today.
 
Do you consider writing a challenge?
 
Yes, I do. Producing art is difficult - it must be so. If you feel that it is easy then something must be wrong. I find everything I do quite difficult.
 
Will you ever stop writing?
 
No, never. For as soon as I stop writing, I fear I’m going to die.

Anne Eckert, Frankfurter Buchmesse