Highlighting significance of books

Sharjah: The second day of the first conference of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) for the Region of Central Asia and North Africa (Cana), continued with its sessions and activities, at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The conference began with a discussion on the topic “Every Child Has the Right to Become a Reader — Books for Children with Disabilities” introduced by Mohammed Al Nabulsi from Jordan, marketing officer of Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services.

The Egyptian educational expert, trainer, and consultant, Dr Nadia Adib Bamieh, discussed the idea of children with disabilities authoring their own books and explained the details of the process.

Fatima Shaheen from Lebanon, head of Libraries Section of Al Hadi Association, discussed the need for Braille and audio books for the visually-impaired, while Raouf Karray, an illustrator and professor at the Higher Institute of Arts and Crafts in Sfax, Tunisia, spoke about “Touch Pictures” for Braille books and creating tactile educational tools. Philippe Claudet, the French publisher, teacher, author, and translator, provided in-depth information on the creation of illustrated books for the visually-impaired.

The second session, titled “Intercultural Dialogue and Tolerance in Children’s Books,” was moderated by Salha Obaid Ghabbish, a poet, writer, and playwright from the UAE, who is also the Cultural Adviser to the Supreme Council for Family Affairs. The first two speakers addressed the theme of inclusion throughout children’s literature, as it relates to the differently abled.

Nada Barakat Khawaja, an educator and author from Lebanon, and an advocate for people with disabilities, defined what comprises “Inclusive Books,” which promote tolerance and understanding of diversity. Sahar Tarhandeh, researcher and executive committee member of the IBBY National Section in Iran, brought to light the negative shades given to characters with disability in children’s picture books in Iran.

Amal Farah, an author of children’s books and deputy managing editor of Disney Magazines in Egypt, questioned the concept of cultural competition or “The Other” and the lack of understanding and tolerance of Arab literature in the Western world. Fadia Hoteit, an author and researcher from Lebanon, examined the absence of the culturally different “Other” in the world of Arab children’s books and discussed the need to expand horizontally to include the world in them.

“Folklore and Oral History: Transporting Spoken Traditions to the Written Page” was the topic of discussion of the third session of the morning, which was moderated by Abdulaziz Al Musallam, a writer, poet, and folklore historian from the UAE. Asma Abdul Latif Al Kuwari, director of Centre for Children’s Literature in Qatar, Amina Hachimi Alaoui, a Morocco-based publisher and bookseller, Salwa Shakhshir, a publisher from Jordan and Abdalsalam Nakhla, National Reading Campaign director, Tamer Institute for Community Education, spoke during the session.

The fourth session for the day began with guest speakers discussing the topic “Publishing for children: Are we keeping up with new prospects?” They were Jordanian Rawan Barakat, founder and director of Raneen Foundation, which produces audio books for children, Shereen Kreidieh, a Lebanese based publisher, Linah Awad, a professor from the University of Jordan, Iranian web developer and children’s literature expert/researcher Mahshid Dowlat, and Marjan Foroughi, a web developer and animation screenwriter, another Iranian.

By a staff reporter
April 23, 2013