The Book in the United Arab Emirates: Current Status and Future Prospects of the Local Book Industry

Abstract

This collective dossier examines the status of the book in the United Arab Emirates and the future prospects of the local book industry through an integrated institutional, cultural, and educational perspective. It discusses the role of publishing and cultural bodies in supporting university books and cultural publishing, highlighting their connection to local intellectual production, educational needs, and broader efforts to consolidate the place of the book in public cultural life. The dossier also links the development of the book industry to the institutional environment that sustains it, including publishing policies, book series, and the contribution of cultural organizations to authorship, printing, and dissemination.

A substantial part of the dossier is devoted to children’s books as a foundational field for shaping future readers. It addresses the condition of Arab children’s publishing, the UAE’s contribution to it, and the thematic and artistic characteristics of children’s books. It also includes statistical tables on age and subject distribution, before moving to age-based criteria for evaluating and producing children’s books. Taken together, the dossier offers a comprehensive view that goes beyond describing the current state of local book production to envisioning its future through quality publishing, investment in children’s books, and stronger cultural and educational support for a sustainable reading environment in the UAE and the wider Arab world.