Highlighting kids’ love for animals

Ashraf Marhally, Staff Reporter

The month of April in Sharjah is always characterised by a cultural ethos mainly due to the opening of Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival where many writers signed their newly published books.

One significant book shown in the Nour Publishing booth had the title “Animals of the United Arab Emirates” written and illustrated by Ellie Szymanska. Szymanska believes all children love animals intrinsically, and consequently enriching children’s literature with books about animals is a necessity. Szymanska is originally from Poland but spent most of her life in the UAE. She’s very passionate about animals and currently shares her home with 5 rescue cats.

The book will soon be available in bookshops of the UAE.

She mentioned she plans to have a series of children’s books related to animals from all over the world. “Animals of the United Arab Emirates” is the first book in the UAE showing animals of the country in a creative fun way, as Nour Arab indicated.

Nour Arab, the founder of Nour Publishing and author of Samsoom and Naya bilingual stories, pointed out Nour Publishing promotes cultural exchange through books. She said it was exciting to have an author from Poland write about the UAE.

Arab appreciated the support of the Sharjah Book Authority in promoting the publishing industry.

She said, “Sharjah is now the World Book Capital and we are proud to publish books for creative UAE-based authors.”

Having welcomed over 200,000 visitors to a gala, 11-day celebration of books, culture and knowledge, Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2019) closed curtains on its 11th edition on Saturday.

The festival was organised by Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), and held under the directives of His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and under 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).

Themed ‘Explore Knowledge’, the event ran from 17-27 April 2019, at the Sharjah Expo Centre.