Sharjah: The 10th edition of Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) will host a line-up of the Arab world’s most popular authors and artists at Expo Centre Sharjah between April 18 and 28.
Organised by Sharjah Book Authority, the festival will also host a line-up of famous actors, including Egyptian actress Sabrin, Bahraini actress Haifa Hussain, and Egyptian actor Abdul Rahman Abu Zahra.
Also set to appear at the festival is Algerian artist Tareq Al Arabi Tarkan, who has written more than 1,000 songs and created scripts for several TV shows and famous cartoon films, and Syrian actress Amal Hawijeh, who has been the voice of much-loved animated film characters including ‘Mowgli’, ‘Captain Majid’ and the ‘Small Fisherman’.
SCRF 2018 will also welcome Lebanese author Sahar Mahfouz, a prolific writer who has penned a number of stories for young adults and children. Mahfouz has been a jury member for many renowned writing awards and in 2013 founded the Hunna Group for Female Emirati Writers and Creators.
The festival will also host Palestinian author and illustrator Fadwa Al Qasim Fadwa, who specialises in translation and writing short stories. Fadwa translated ‘The Scent of Cardamom’ by (Dar Sharqiyat) in 2005, and ‘The Scents of Marie-Claire’ by Tunisian author Habib Selmi which was published by the American University of Cairo Press in 2010.
Egyptian author and scriptwriter Amr Samir Atef is sure to be a popular addition to the festival, having written the scripts of many TV series for children and adults, as will Omani author and theatre director Mohammad Bin Khalfan Al Hanaee, who has written a number of popular children’s plays. Other guests include Syrian writer Dr Mustafa Abdul Fattah, founder and chairman of the Children’s Literary Club, and Sudanese author Dr Haydar Waqee’ Allah, manager of Programme Development at Sharjah Children’s Centres.
The festival also hosts a galaxy of academics including Dr Reem Al Fawwaz, assistant professor and researcher in Children’s Literature and Literary Criticism at the Arabic Language Department of the King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah.
