A diverse group of child prodigies and young high achievers in the fields of science and literature, from the UAE and around the world, will enlighten young audiences at the upcoming 13^th edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF),with inspiring stories of their accomplishments to motivate their peers to keep reaching for the stars.

The series of inspirational talks will be held at the Kids’ Creative Café in Hall 6 at Expo Centre Sharjah, where SCRF is gearing up to ignite creative passions and nurture young talents for 12 days from May 11 – 22. Organised by Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), this year’s edition of the festival carries the theme ‘Create Creativity’.

The Kids’ Creative Café will host 9-year-old Alreem Al Hammadi, a talented Emirati writer, who will inspire and motivate children to read and explore the world around them. Proficient in arts and creativity, Al Hammadi is a multi-award winner, including a recipient of awards instituted by the UAE’s Department of Culture and Tourism.

Taif Al Dhufairi, a talented story writer from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who started writing and publishing stories when she was 8 years old, will share the secrets of her exceptional talent with SCRF 2022 audiences. In 2019, Al Dhufairi, won the Rashid bin Humaid Award for Culture and Sciences – Children’s Literature category, to become the youngest winner of this award since its inception.

Award-winning sports champion, Farah Mustafa from Egypt, will also be hosted at the Kids’ Creative Café. An avid swimmer and volleyball player, Farah Mustafa has also competed in a series of Mind Sports at the national and international levels, ranking third in a world championship held in Thailand.

16-year-old Ahsan Ramzan from Pakistan, will recount his journey of becoming the second youngest winner of the International Billiards and Snooker Federation’s (IBSF) World Snooker Championship in March 2022. An avid snooker enthusiast for over a decade, Ahsan was among only six juniors fielded by the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation (PBSF) to compete in the event alongside 50 other cueists.

12-year-old Dubai-based Bangladeshi student Ameena Hossain, who has a formidable list of exceptional achievements to her name, earned the first place in a mental math competition held at Amity University, UAE, when she was just seven. She secured the title for a second time in 2019. This year, Ameena secured third and fourth place respectively in the Spelling Bee and Mental Math competitions.

The line-up of gifted young speakers scheduled to speak at the Kids’ Creative Café at SCRF 2022 also includes Patrick Njoroge Wachira, a 12-year-old CEO from Kenya who will highlight the importance of preparing children for a tech-enabled future through STEM education. Patrick runs an initiative called the PNW Innovations Programme that offers free STEM education to underprivileged Kenyan children deprived of access to basic computer learning and the internet. He is currently working on creating a Mobile STEM Lab with the aim of traveling across Kenya to teach youth robotics, coding and other skills in the field.

The Kids’ Creative Café will also host Devi Vaishnavi, a student at International Indian School Ajman, who will share her writing journey as a young established author and poet. By age 11, the literary talent from India had already published two books, Vampid: The Vampire Virus and The Sky Speaks, as well as a poem titled ‘The Promise’. During her talk, Devi will also present her creative writing book entitled The Voice.