The United Arab Emirates’ golden jubilee celebrations at Expo 2020 Dubai kicked off today with a special opening of the portal at Sustainability Gate by members of the Emirates Writers Union.
During the ceremony, presented by Mohammed Hassan Khalaf, Director General of the Sharjah Radio and Television, Sheikh Sultan honoured Kuwaiti novelist and writer Talib Al Rifai with the Cultural Personality of the Year Award.
Sharjah: Prominent Emirati authors and literary gurus have called on for the establishment of creative writing training institutions that will “enhance the skills of aspiring writers in creating contents that connect with the readers and enhance critical thinking.”
The recommendation was made during a panel discussion marking Emirati Writer’s Day at the 12th Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF).
The participants during the discussion titled, ‘Emirati Authors: Reality and Aspiration’ were Saleha Ghabish, secretary general of Emirates Writers Union (EWU); Emirati poet Abdullah Al Hadiya; Dr. Ali Abdulqader Al Hammadi, director general of the Arabic Language Protection Association; Fathiya Al Nimr, novelist; Aisha Abdullah, author; and Ali Al Abdan, critic and researcher.
Sharjah: Characters of Arab origin living in foreign countries will increasingly feature in books, writers told the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF).
They were speaking during a ‘Writers and Readers’ session at the 12th edition of SCRF at Expo Centre Sharjah. Author Aisha Bushby who was born in Bahrain and lived Kuwait, England, Canada and UK said: “For me, it was very important to showcase both sides of my individual culture and reflect it in my books. I would love to see Arab children represent themselves in books and not have other people represent them. I couldn’t have imagined seeing an Arab kid in an English language book when I was a child. I don’t think it even crossed my mind.”