At what had to be one of the most vibrant and engaging events held at this year’s Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF), teenagers and school kids gathered to listen to Asia’s best-known quiz master, Derek O’Brien. Known for hosting India’s longest running game show, ‘The Bournvita Quiz Contest,’ O’Brien has so far authored more than 50 works, including quiz and reference books. 

O’Brien was a guest at the 36th edition of SIBF to participate in a session to discuss his latest book and first political title: ‘Inside Parliament: The Views from the Front Row,’ a collection of essays on the Indian Parliament.

O’Brien, who is a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabh and is also Penguin India’s highest selling reference author, took questions from the audiences on a myriad of topics, ranging from diplomacy in politics to the vision and philosophy of Mother Teresa. 

When a student asked for an advice on choosing a settled career or following a passion, O’Brien said, “I think you should first go for a career that is safe and sound. See, you can only break the rules if you know the rules.”

Citing the example of his own career progression he said, “I changed my fields but my core skill, that of communicating, has remained the same. This is what you can do - find out your core skill and then look for ways to express and use that skill.”
Bringing the session to a close, he said, “I want to say this to all youngsters, the ones who are 18 years and less - please make your parents proud. To all other Indians here, I want you to know that you are all our ambassadors and we are all very proud of you.”

O’Brien is just one of the 393 guests from 48 countries taking part in more than 2,600 events at the 11-day SIBF 2017. Themed ‘A World in My Book,’ this year’s edition of the world’s third largest book fair is witnessing the participation of 1,650 publishing houses from 60 countries. More than 1.5 million titles are on display at the event, which spreads across 14,625 square metres. SIBF 2017 continues until November 11 at Expo Centre Sharjah.