The House of Wisdom has been nominated for the International Excellence Awards’ Library of the Year prize, which is organised by The London Book Fair. Along with the City of Johannesburg Libraries in South Africa and the Fran Galovic Koprivnica Public Library in Croatia, the Sharjah cultural hub has been chosen.
The winner will be announced at the London Book Fair 2022, which will take place at Olympia in the UK capital from April 5 to 7. The London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award, Audiobook Publisher of the Year, Bookstore of the Year Award, Educational Learning Resources Award, Rights Professional Award, Children’s and Young Adult Publishers Award, Literary Translation Initiative Award, and the Inclusivity in Publishing Award, which is only open to entries from the United Kingdom, are among the other prizes up for grabs at the ninth International Excellence Awards.
The shortlist includes a total of 17 countries. For the first time, Greece has been nominated, and Spain leads the nominations with three, followed by the United States, Egypt, and France. “We are happy to recognise some of the most innovative organisations, initiatives, and individuals from around the world in this year’s International Excellence Awards shortlists,” Andy Ventris, director of The London Book Fair, stated.
The House of Wisdom in Sharjah will open in December 2020, marking the emirate’s year as the Unesco World Book Capital in 2019. It has a total of 407,500 books, 322,000 of which are digital and 85,500 of which are in more than 12 languages.