Nowhere else have I seen such a glut of diverse 1,658 workshops and educational activities and a convergence of 68 distinguished guests for 21 countries cover 12 days designed to foster the love and spread the joy of reading & books, attract and hone their interest.Organisers call it “immersive edutainment” – entertaining education for the participating 122,000 participating kids, youths, parents, artists, writers, journalists and visitors, to maximise the positive impacts.
The mind-boggling diversity of activities were designed to cater to individual interest to boost participation. “Train your Brain”, the slogan of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival 2030, is perhaps the most valuable take-home word power packed with potential consequential gains for all who attended for widespread application long term, for a better future.
Khoula answered: “Yes, it is important of course, because we want to raise an educated kid who will participate in a positive way in society in the future. In other words, the virtues of tolerance and co-existence are not given but must be cultivated. Looks like the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival 2023 fit the bill.
But actually this is a story of Sheikh Dr Sultan’s determination to transform Sharjah into a literary destination. More than that, he was President of both the American University of Sharjah and University of Sharjah in 1997.