From Malayalam bestsellers to Tamil classics, Indian publishers and readers celebrate their shared cultural roots at the world’s largest book fair
Sharjah, November 14, 2025
The Indian participation at the 44th Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF 2025) continues to be an indispensable factor owing to the large Indian population in the UAE, a good many of them keeping in touch with their roots through the books from their homeland and in their mother tongue.
Indian English authors Sudha Murthy, Chetan Bhagat and Arundhati Roy turned out to be popular across Indian stalls going by the prominent display of their books. Manohar from Manifest Distribution FZE rated Murthy’s books for children a prime buy for many Indian families while Bhagat’s One Arranged Murder and Robin Sharma’s The 5 Am Club were not any less popular.
“Arundhati Roy’s memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me is such a bestseller that it has gone out of stock”, said Aghila, a coordinator at a stall of DC Books which has one of the largest number of stalls in SIBF for international books, and separate stalls for Indian readers in English and Malayalam.
Discounts ranging from 10-40% have attracted a lot of casual visitors to the stalls. DC Books has been offering 15% discount for teachers and 10% for kids and the general population. “We get more sales on weekends when adults and families visit more,” said Sheena Sunil Kumar at the Kerala Sashtrasahitya Parishad.
A popular element of Hall 7 at Expo Centre during SIBF, dedicated to Indian language books, is the Writer’s Forum which sees over 200 book releases during the fair. “Each book release gets 25 minutes’ time and there are about 25 releases in a day,” said Hameed M. who is in charge of the program.
Needless to say, the bulk of the releases are Malayalam language books from the state of Kerala which has the largest demographic in the UAE. Among the most high-profile releases so far have been autobiographies by former Kerala Minister EP Jayarajan Ethaanente jeevitham (This is my Life) and actor Krishnaprasad Karshakanadan (Agriculturist actor). An emotional tribute to the Sharjah book fair has come from journalist Sreejesh S. Nair through his book Aksharakadalile Veliyettam (High tide in the Sea of Letters).
Tamil stalls also have a visible presence at SIBF 2025. P. Karthikeyan of Sixth Sense Publications is at the book fair for the fifth consecutive year and is displaying books from 30 other publishers in his stall. From Tamil classics to translations of popular international classics, the stall is well-stocked. He pointed out: “For an author to be able to display their work, it is important to find the right support and media publicity to draw more crowds interested in reading Tamil books. We do see certain faces year after year and weekends see higher footfall.” V. Manoharan of Discovery Book Palace also has a huge collection of books that are of interest to the Tamil-speaking public.
It needs to be said that it is not the books alone that draw the Indian community to SIBF 2025 — it is the expat population’s longing to connect and meet their own ilk, and the camaraderie witnessed in Hall 7 stand testimony to SIBF’s role as a binding force.
Sharjah International Book Fair 2025 is a 12-day event, organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) under the theme ‘Between You and a Book’.
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Photo caption:
1-6: General images from the Indian participation during the 44th edition of Sharjah International Book Fair 2025.