Sharjah24: The UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) is organising a series of online discussions, workshops and storytelling sessions as part of its ‘Read, Dream, Create’ campaign in celebration of the Reading Month observed annually in March. The cultural agenda reflects the Board’s mission to motivate children in the UAE to read books that entertain, inform, and help them explore new ideas and experiences. Ultimately, the entity aims to inspire a lifelong love of reading in the young generation.

Workshops and panels
A series of panel discussions and storytelling sessions have been planned as part of the UAEBBY’s cultural calendar for this month. The panel discussions to be held as part of UAEBBY’s agenda for the Reading Month.

Tomorrow March 10, a session on traditional Emirati folktales. Presented by Emirati author and illustrator, Maitha Al Khayat, who has published 17 books in less than 10 years and won prestigious awards, the session will focus on Khonfar Zonfar, a story in Khererifa Mejerifa, which features traditional fables and folktales of the UAE and is published by the Sharjah Institute for Heritage (SIH). 

Author Nadia Al Najjar will lead the panel session on March 11 to discuss the story, Bdeiha Bdeiho, which is also published in SIH’s Khererifa Mejerifa, while author Basima Al Misbahi will read from her book Endama Tashar Alshams (When the Sun Stays up Late) on March 14. 

Samar Mahfouz Barraj, Lebanese writer and translator of children's books will conduct a creative writing workshop on March 15-16. Based on the book, Write Your Own Story Book, the workshop targets those interested in writing children’s books to nurture their expertise in narration, storytelling, ideas, and writing techniques.

A panel discussion on March 17 led by Noura Al-Khoori will explore the aesthetics, style and narration techniques of children’s and young adults in traditional Emirati folktales through a discussion on the story, Ntefan.

The UAEBBY’s Month of Reading progarmme will conclude on March 30 with a special Book Club session hosting novelist and science fiction writer, Noura al Noman. She will discuss Mandaan, the sequel to her previous novel Ajwan which won the 2013 Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature in the Young Adults category.

Storytelling sessions
UAEBBY’s Reading Month has already witnessed lots of exciting literary activity organised for children. On March 1, Amira Bou Kedra, an Emirati writer and author of children’s books, read stories from her book, Good Night by Hudhud Publishing and Distribution. On March 3, author Noura Al-Khoori read Ferboua, a story steeped in authentic Emirati culture and its picturesque landscape, published by Loaloa Publishing and Distribution.

On March 4, author Amira Bou Kedra led a discussion on the book, Khererifa Mejerifa: the story of Salem the diver. The same day, Emirati writer and translator, Mouza Muhammad Al Qaidi read Hudhud Publishing & Distribution’s The Small Seller, which narrates the story of a boy who finds an innovative way to increase the sales of his family’s farm produce. 

Author Basima Al Misbahi read Endama Tashar Alshams’ (When the Sun Stays up Late) from Qindeel Printing Publishing and Distribution on March 7 while the following day, vocal impressionist Samia Ayesh engaged the audience with her narration of The Emperor's New Clothes, a well-loved literary folktale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. 

During a storytelling session on March 9, Emirati author Nadia Al Najjar – the winner of the 2015 Emirates Award for Fiction in the Short Fiction category, read Ghaftan (Two Ghafs) published by Al Hudhud.