'Publishers for children's literature are rare in the region'

Dubai: A prominent Arab author has urged more effort by illustrators and publishers in the Middle East as "they are the main factors that contribute to the lack of children's books in the region."

Nahed Al Shawa and Qaisra Shahraz both participated in a seminar titled, "Babies Need Books; Reading and Education," which was held on the first day of the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature (EAIFL).

"There are attempts to translate books into Arabic but there are not many illustrators in the Arab world, and very few children's authors," said Nahed. "The market is there but publishers for children's books are rare in the Middle East," added Nahed, who has been writing children's books for the last seven years.

In many Arab countries, publishers of children's books are very few because these books are the most expensive to publish.

"Arabic books look boring and this is because Arab publishers are not willing to publish high quality books, and are only interested producing large quantities even if it means giving up on the quality," she said.

During the seminar, it was pointed out that when children read books they identify the pictures first and then they identify the words. This particular concept was linked with the necessity of introducing picture-driven curriculum books in schools in the Arab region.

"Curriculum books should look nice so that children would want to pick up the book and read it. Right now, the books available in schools are the complete opposite," said Nahed, adding that the government's budget in many Arab countries is low for education.

According to Nahed, recent statistics show that the American child is exposed to 13,000 books a year while the Arab child is only exposed to 300 books a year.

She noted that if the curriculum books are unappealing, children will be less willing to read and this will in turn make them less willing to learn.