The UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) will be playing a high-profile role at the 25th edition of Sao Paulo Book Fair, taking place from 3-12 August, hosting discussions, panels, workshops, storytelling sessions and two fairs.
UAEBBY, the United Arab Emirates branch of the International Board on Books for Young People, will showcase its pioneering work in books for children and youth at the Sharjah pavilion, celebrating the selection of the emirate as this year’s Guest of Honour.
The UAEBBY agenda includes two panels, the first of which will look at the history, characteristics and origin of folklore and how the stories are narrated, with Dr. Abdul Aziz Al Musallam, Chairman of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage, Marco Haurélio, author and Specialist in the Brazilian Folk Tales, from the Brazilian Board on Books for Young People, and moderated by Marwa Al Aqroubi.
The second session is titled ‘The Imagine Books’ with Marwa Al Aqroubi, President of UAEBBY, Alyazia Alsuwaidi, Emirati Author, and moderated by Karine Pansa who will discuss the merits of these imagine books and highlight their role in helping refugee children integrate into the community regardless their culture and mother tongue.
The Board is also organising a fair to showcase the winning-books of the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature from its inception in 2009 through to the present.
A second fair will cover ‘Imagine Books’ which have been produced and published as part of a series of art workshops organised by UAEBBY during the 2nd edition of the Imagine Book Fair, hosted by Sharjah in August 2017 with the participation of an elite group of Emirati and Arab writers and illustrators.
In addition, the Board is also organising storytelling sessions and interactive workshops for children.
Al Aqroubi stressed that this participation is part of the UAEBBY’s commitment to represent the UAE in all international cultural events and highlights its achievements in children’s literature at national level.
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