Writers from Germany refelect on Oman
Lakshmi Kothaneth
The 29th edition of Muscat International Book Fair is booming with activities and visitors.
The Art Hall at the Oman Convention and Exhiition Centre exhibits the works of prominent Omani artists and it also has the stage that hosts writers and authors whose books are featured at the book fair.
This year the Embassy of Germany is participating in the book fair and during the weekend saw two authors and documentary director being featured in the talk titled, ‘Oman – seen by German women.
The event began withthe international preview of the film arta, by producer, director and journalist, Nadia Frenz, and later Nadia and the author of the book 1001 Fiendships, editor and journalist Natascha Plankermann, and author of the book ‘Oman from above’, Sabine Reining presented the talk.
“This is the first German participation at the bookfair and we wanted to show something of Oman in Germany such as friendships, projects between the countries. I started with this book and now I am writing about the green hydrogen project in Oman as well as other projects that are taking place between the two countries,” said Natascha.
She as been coming to Oman since 10 years.
“When I came to Oman forthe first time ten years ago, it changed my mindset and life because I met here and in Germany people who were related to Oman and became friends. For example, I met the first German Ambassador to Oman who had set up the Embassy in the country in the 1970s. He is still very fond of Oman. We also like to showcase the country in Germany because we like the country and the people so much,” she explained.
Nadia Frenz mainly works for the German- French television and her documentary consists of two parts. The one that was screened was the first part of the documentary featuring Jabal al Akhdhar and parts of Dhofar.
“What we do not have in this part is the beauty of the desert and the harvesting of luban. Both of the documentaries will be shown on May 8, 2025 in the Germany French television. I have been here for more than 20 times as a journalist but also as a tourist. But people in Oman have been so supportive and open towards and my crew,” Nadia pointed out.
She said it is very important to see the response of the protagonists, the people who are featured in the documentary.
“They are my heroes and without them, there would be no documentary. As a female director it is important to feature women and so I tried to forget us on women. When it comesto our European audience, there are lot of misconceptions about the women in the Arab world. People think women are oppressed, but they are not and this is why I wanted to highlight it. It s only a little piece of all the women who live here, but inwanted to show the women who are primary teacher, entrepreneur, designer and so on. And most importantly to portray how similar a working mother I, whichever part of the world they are from. The struggles and challenges are the same,” she noted.
Sabine Reining is a blogger and photographer and is at the bookfair with two books and one passion – capturing Oman’s beauty.
“This is my second time at the bookfair, and one of my books is a coffee table book on Oman showcasing the diversity of the country’s landscape and the other shows Oman from the above. It also brings in the people and this book includes QR code so the reader can travel to the exact location where the photo was taken,” explained Sabine.
She founded her blog, MidnightOman in 2015, and recieves about 10,000 visitors every month.
And her favorite place to go in Oman during April?
“Of course it is Jabal Al Akhdhar with rose harvesting season in April. It is there in my book,” she replied.