Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Shafqat Ali Khan, inaugurated the Pakistan Pavilion at the Sharjah International Book Fair on Thursday, 5 November 2026, opening a showcase of Urdu and English publishing to one of the world’s largest book-loving audiences.
The pavilion stands in Hall 6, Stand O-30 at Expo Centre Sharjah, where the 45th edition of the fair runs from 4 to 15 November 2026. Pakistani publishers have brought poetry, novels, children’s books, educational and research publications, and works on history and culture, giving the hundreds of thousands of visitors who attend the fair a direct window into Pakistan’s literary world.
What the Pakistan Pavilion Shows at the Sharjah International Book Fair
Three publishing houses anchor the display this year. Gagan Shahid, Director of Book Corner Jhelum, Daniyal Salam, Director of Ferozsons (Pvt.) Ltd., and Sarmad Khan, Co-founder of Urdu Books World, are representing Pakistan at the fair, meeting readers, booksellers and fellow publishers from across the region.
The names carry history. Ferozsons is one of Pakistan’s oldest publishing houses, founded in Lahore in 1894 and long associated with Urdu and English books for general readers and schools. Book Corner, based in Jhelum, is known for keeping classic and contemporary Urdu literature in print, while Urdu Books World serves Urdu readers abroad through its bookshop network. Between them, the three represent the traditional, the literary and the diaspora-facing sides of Pakistani publishing, all on one stand.
The range on the shelves matters. Alongside the classics of Urdu literature, the pavilion carries English-language titles aimed at the large Pakistani diaspora in the Emirates and at international readers curious about Pakistan’s history and culture. Children’s books and educational titles speak to families, while research publications connect with the fair’s strong academic audience.
The Emirates are a natural home for such a showcase. Well over a million Pakistanis live and work in the UAE, one of the largest Pakistani communities abroad, and the fair gives families there direct access to books from home in both Urdu and English. For younger readers especially, pavilions like this one are where a connection to Pakistani writing is kept alive between visits home.
Expo Centre Sharjah, home of the Sharjah International Book Fair (file photo)
Photo: Mostafameraji, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Why the Fair Matters for Pakistani Books
The Sharjah International Book Fair has grown into one of the biggest events of its kind anywhere, drawing publishers from well over a hundred countries. For Pakistani publishers, a stand there is more than a bookshop counter for twelve days: it is where translation rights are discussed, distribution deals begin, and Urdu literature meets readers who may never walk into a bookshop in Lahore or Karachi.
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Cultural showcases like this one work hand in hand with the people-to-people exchanges the site covers regularly, from visiting delegations such as the Bangladeshi cultural delegation that arrived in Islamabad to global recognitions of Pakistani voices in books like The Muslim 500. Each one carries Pakistan’s stories a little further into the world.
The pavilion stays open for the full run of the fair, which closes on 15 November. Readers in the Emirates can visit Hall 6, Stand O-30 at Expo Centre Sharjah to browse the collection in person, joining visitors from around the world at the region’s biggest celebration of books and reading. For more stories like this, see our Positive News Pakistan page.
Sources
- Emirates News Agency (WAM), via Simply Abu Dhabi: Pakistan Pavilion inaugurated at Sharjah International Book Fair 2026
- Pak Prism: Pakistan Pavilion inaugurated at 45th Sharjah International Book Fair
- Featured image: Books on display at a Sharjah International Book Fair stall (Mostafameraji, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
- In-body image: The Expo Centre Sharjah entrance during the Sharjah International Book Fair (Mostafameraji, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Umar Farooq is the founder and editor of Good News Pakistan. An engineer by profession and a writer by passion, he started the site in December 2022 to share good news from Pakistan, and has since written and edited more than 200 articles about its people, sports, science, business and world records. He believes the story of Pakistan is bigger than its headlines, and that good news, told honestly, is worth telling every day.