A total 355 artworks will be showcased at the popular Sharjah Children’s Books Illustrations Exhibition, held as part of the 10th edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), which will be inaugurated this Wednesday (April 18) at Expo Centre Sharjah.

This will be the seventh edition of the Sharjah Children’s Books Illustrations Exhibition, which is held every year at SCRF, and aims to bring the knowledge and art contained within books for children under one roof, so as to enable young readers to understand and appreciate the diverse messages and meanings contained within illustrations that hail from different parts of the world.

This year, the exhibited works will be contributed by 104 illustrators from 32 countries. This includes 12 from the UAE, constituting the nation’s largest participation in the exhibition’s history. This is followed by 29 illustrators other Arab countries and 63 from the rest of the world.

The exhibition also aims to encourage illustrators and artists who have dedicated their art to children’s literature to come face-to-face with some of the most impacting images and drawings in the genre, and gain a better understanding of how these established artists use their vision and skill to capture children’s attention make reading more attractive to them.

Illustrations in children’s books have always played a major role in nurturing a book-friendly generation in their ability to push the creativity and curiosity of young minds, and added more value to the written content in books.

This year’s festival features a platform, ‘Horizons’ that has been created to enable publishers, illustrators and authors to meet and network, and explore opportunities for cooperation and joint action in the children’s book industry.