Abu Dhabi,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS,  UAE

Emila at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2013

I received the formal invitation to join the Illustrators Corner in January and I was happy to accept the offer because it includes a free panel in the illustrators corner, 10 hotel nights and a flight to Abu Dhabi and back.

And now here I am in Abu Dhabi, writing this posting in my room. I am here since 22nd April and will leave Abu Dhabi on 1st May. Two more days to go.

Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) has considerably grown throughout the past 5 years and has positioned itself as the gateway to the Arab book market with 300 million potential readers. It continues to offer a professional platform to conduct business with regional partners in the publishing industry. Three years ago, ADIBF successfully introduces the Illustrators Corner where visual content is presented to publishers and the general public. It is now a vibrant area with international attendance and sparkling creativity.

Last year, Illustrators Corner hosted 25 artists from the Arab world as well as Korea, France and Switzerland. This year it includes illustrators from Malaysia, Catalonia, Switzerland, Germany, Dubai, Syria, Egypt, Peru as well as local illustrators.

Illocorner

I am having a great time here entertaining questions from budding illustrators who dropped by to seek more information on how to become an illustrator. Apart from that I got visited by publishers and writers from Bahrain, France, India, Pakistan and many more who are interested in my works. It is a great experience as this is my first time being involved in something that I can relate to.

Here are some pictures from my booth.

Saied
This is Saied. He likes to draw anime. He bought each of my women series postcards because he, too, likes to draw women. We have something in common there. He said, “I love sketching women, it’s quite easy unlike sketching men.”

Aisha
This is Aisha. She’s eleven. She likes my postcards and asked whether she can have a piece of everything on display. I said yes and she happily picked her postcards.

Mahra
This is Mahra Salem. She is an art student at Zayed University. She bought my stuff 🙂 I am so happy that my merchandise items are sell-able there.

Fatma
They come to see me draw. From left Sara, Fatma and Fatma. Fatma is a popular name here. I met another Fatma after that, who is the cousin of the very right Fatma.

 Will post more soon. Take care.

Much love,
Emila, Abu Dhabi 29/4/2013, 7am

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