Workshop aims to encourage children's literary skills

The First Cultural Meeting For Children started yesterday at the Sharjah Institute for Theatrical Arts featuring exhibitions, workshops and discussions that allow children to demonstrate their literary skills.

The three-day meeting was organised by the Children's Cultural Centres under the theme "Readers and Innovators". It aims to give the children an opportunity to display their cultural talents through story writing, poetry and theatre, a spokesperson said yesterday.

The meeting will also help to raise children's interest in reading and encourage their literary creativity. They will also learn the technicalities of book and newspaper publishing. Models of television and radio studios have been set up to teach children how to prepare media programmes and conduct interviews.

The children will present their literary works before prominent writers and media officials and will hear their evaluations. There will be reading sessions and the children will be asked to draw pictures indicating their reading comprehension. Those with thespian talents will be asked to act out scenes from children's plays and have their performance evaluated.

Cultural contests and music shows will also be held. An exhibition is being held alongside the meeting comprising various child publications, in addition to a model of a home library to encourage the reading habit in children.