Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA), the 11th annual edition of Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), is coming back to Sharjah Expo Centre on April 17, 2019, to capture imaginations and delight cultural enthusiasts with 2,546 activities featuring 198 guests from 56 countries.

Under the theme ‘Explore Knowledge’, the 11-day reading festival dedicated specially to UAE’s children and youth, and organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), will be hosting a series of film screenings and international theatre shows, in addition to showcasing a multitude of publications by 167 publishers from 18 countries who will be participating at the event.

The details of the upcoming festival were announced at a press conference at the SBA headquarters yesterday (Tuesday), in the presence of HE Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, Chairman of SBA; Salem Ali Alghaithi, Director of Sharjah TV at Sharjah Broadcasting Authority; Khoula Al Mujaini, Director of Fairs and Festivals at SBA; SCRF 2019’s sponsors and strategic partners, and media representatives.

Strong local and regional participation

Al Ameri highlighted that among the participating publishers, UAE tops the list with 62 participants, followed by 25 from Lebanon and 12 from Egypt.

He noted: “Since its inception, Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival has been a hive of reading and the expression of creativity, has opened the doors of knowledge and culture to young generations, and most importantly highlighted the importance of making reading a lifelong habit, in line with the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, and his wife, Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi. They continue to strongly emphasise on the instrumentality of building people’s knowledge and cultural understanding in empowering them to contribute to their personal life, to their communities and ultimately to national development.

The SBA Chairman pointed out that this edition’s theme ‘Explore Knowledge’ seeks to stimulate and encourage young generations to be curious, to explore and question, read and learn, because exploring knowledge is the first step to discovering their own talent developing their skills.

SCRF is a leading event that blends knowledge, entertainment, fun and education

For his part, Salem Al Ghaithi, Director of Sharjah TV, said: “Each year, Sharjah brings us together at prestigious cultural events, which project its vision. SCRF is one of the top events in the region that blends knowledge, entertainment, fun and education. It fosters a culture of willingness to explore knowledge and enables us to further our dedication to realising the wise vision of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, who keeps reminding us that children and youth play a key role in promoting our culture and civilisation.”

“The Sharjah Broadcasting Authority is dedicated to elevating the knowledge of young generations, honing their talents and offering them a platform to develop their creativity and inventions. The authority’s mandate aligns with its inclusive vision that seeks to promote Sharjah’s cultural project globally. In line with this vision, the authority sponsors the SCRF officially and covers it thoroughly through its subsidiaries, both; TV and Radio, to communicate Sharjah’s cultural message to the public, in addition to consolidating the event’s role in enhancing children’s creativity,” Al Ghaithi added.

In her presentation, Khoula Al Mujaini, Director of Fairs and Festivals at SBA, shed light on the series of workshops, competitions and activities that will be organised at this edition. She pointed out the SCRF consolidated its position as a platform for children and an incubator of their talents and skills.

Arab and international guests

Al Mujaini revealed that a host of renowned Arab artists, authors and intellectuals, including Abdelrahman Abo Zahra form Egypt, Qamar Al Safadi from Jordan, Haifa Hussein from Bahrain, Shaimaa Saif from Egypt, Falah Ahmad from Iraq, Amani Al Baba from Palestine, Yacoub El Sharouni, Hafedh bin Dhaifallah, along with Nora Al Noman, Dubai Belhoul and Mariam Al Zarouni from the UAE, will be participating in SCRF 2019.

Carter Higgins from the USA; Sha’an d’Anthes, Ruby Lovell, Sonya Saidman and Zanib Mian from the UK; Juliette Maclver from New Zealand; Catherine Doyle from Ireland; Sergei Urban from Latvia, among several other international literary celebrities are also part of the programme.

New exhibitions

This year’s edition of SCRF will be hosting two new exhibitions for the first time. ‘Traveling the Silk Road’ exhibition will be a gateway for visitors to the most celebrated trade route in history; the Silk Road, which extends from the far east, China through the cities and empires of Central Asia and the Middle East. The exhibition will feature 176 activities.

Themed ‘Voyage to the Deep’, the second exhibition will be taking visitors on a fascinating deep sea adventure of Captain Nemo, based on 1870 Jules Verne classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea a The exhibition will feature 231 attractions.

Film screenings

For the first time in SCRF’s history, visitors will enjoy opportunity 19 film screenings. Every day, parents and their children will be able to pick from a selection of classic animation films in Arabic and English, such as ‘Toy Story’, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Pinocchio’, and many more.

Activities and events

SCRF 2019 will see activities galore – 50 cultural events by 76 guests from 26 countries. The Children Activities agenda is bursting with variety with 1,806 of them being conducted by 59 guests from 21 countries. Also, on offer are live stage entertainment – theatre shows and plays – at the ballroom hall theatre in Arabic, English, Hindi and Urdu. The most sought after of these shows are ‘Al Qatawa’ theatrical performance, ‘Tomorrow’ adventure play, ‘Underwater’ stage show, ‘Cosmic Explorers’ show, ‘Augmented Magic’ show, ‘Chaca Chhakkan in Action’ play, and the ‘Big B’ play.

Workshops and interactive activities

The festival features a series of workshops including a STEAM Laboratory – an interactive platform that will introduce children to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics through
fun-filled activities. Other workshops will be organised on solar energy and music, video game design and life skills.

Sharjah Exhibition for Children’s Book Illustrations

SCRF will be hosting the 8th edition of the Sharjah Exhibition for Children’s Book Illustrations with 320 artists and illustrators from 55 countries. The exhibition’s pavilion will also feature the ‘Ufuq’ platform, which was launched last year with the objective to bring together publishers and illustrators to network and explore cooperation opportunities to improve the children’s book industry by forging partnerships in various publishing fields including production, content writing and printing.

Comic books

The festival offers children and young people the opportunity to learn about the Japanese Manga, taking them on a unique journey to the ‘Artists’ Alley’, a space dedicated to buy comic and other art works, and a ‘Comics Theatre’, which will host comic performances, competitions and workshops. The festival will host eight artists each from Arab and foreign countries who will deliver 80 activities.

Kids Café

A ‘Kids Café’ will bring talented children together who have attained remarkable achievements in literature, science or media. Meet and greets with Arab chess champion Sultan Al Zaabi; the youngest Arab journalist Durar Al Muraqeb, the novelist Anfal, the writer Dhaher Al Muhairi, the writer and playwright Taif Al Dhafiri, the Pakistani TV anchor, public speaker and singer Tawasul Shah, and software developer Aadithyan Rajesh, will be organised.

Cookery corner

The famous cookery corner will be sizzling with a packed culinary itinerary of 140 workshops and live masterclasses presented by some of the youngest Arab and international chefs from eight nations. The stellar line-up of 13 includes Chef Anissa Helou, UK/Lebanon; ‘Little Chef Kicha’ Nihal Raj, India; Junior Chef Sabine, Syria; Chefs Ellie Krieger, Dario Steven, Lara Starr, USA; Jacqueline Chio-Lauri, Philippines and Scott Gooding, Australia.

Social media station

One of the busiest pavilions of the fair, the social media station will continue its activities with Arab and foreign social media influencers, who will share their experiences and knowledge with the visitors in 28 events. Guests are Munther Al Muzaki, Ali Hassan Bin Kamal, Mushayaa Family, Fayhan Family, Amber Filler Up and Jessica Shape.

Cultural competitions

Khoula Al Mujaini pointed out that this year, the festival is organising an array of various cultural and educational competitions for school-aged children. The Festival portfolio of awards includes ‘I am the Narrator’, a short story award for encouraging and supporting talented children in the field of creative narrative writing in Arabic or English. The ‘Festival Memories’ award gives visitors a unique opportunity to film a short documentary about their visit to the festival, while the ‘School Students’ Competition’, is a daily award granted to the best written report that addresses one of the festival’s seminars.

The Festival features the ‘Poetry Knight’, a cultural competition that aims to explore talented young poets and encourage them to memorize some of the famous Arabic poems and teach them reciting techniques.

The Festival is supported by a host of sponsors and partners including Etisalat (official sponsor), Sharjah Broadcasting Authority (official media partner), Abu Dhabi Media (media partner) Sharjah Expo Centre (strategic partner).