Rich sessions and discussions at the Sharjah Book Fair about culture, literature and art

Sharjah, 9 November / WAM / The activities of the Sharjah International Book Fair 2025 witnessed rich sessions and discussions in the fields of culture, literature, art and heritage.

Three stars of Arab art, Khaled Al-Sawy, Ahmed Al Jasmi and Dhafer Abdeen, accompanied the audience of the Sharjah International Book Fair 2025 on an artistic and cultural journey during a session entitled “From Acting to Writing,” during which they presented a rich dialogue in which experience was mixed with knowledge. They talked about the artist’s path when he moves from performing in front of the camera to creating the story itself, and how acting turns into a gateway to writing, where life is reshaped with a different perspective.

Al-Sawy stressed that the artist and writer bear the responsibility of raising collective awareness, and despite his defense of freedom of creativity, he saw that the complete absence of censorship may lead to chaos.

For his part, Emirati artist Ahmed Al Jasmi recalled his long journey in the world of art with a deep awareness of balancing acting, writing and production, indicating that his transformation from actor to writer is not just a transition in roles, but rather a natural extension of the artist’s need to fully express his vision.

Tunisian star Dhafer El Abidine shared chapters of his creative journey between acting, writing and directing, revealing a special philosophy that sees the story as more than just a narration of events, but rather a means of discovering oneself and the other.

In her first participation in the Sharjah International Book Fair, international writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie presented to the exhibition audience in a dialogue session in which she spoke about her new novel, “Counting Dreams,” published this year in English and French, revealing the details of her creative experience and its human and intellectual dimensions.

Adichie, who received a MacArthur Fellowship and the Women’s Prize for Literary Fiction, spoke about her vision of writing as a search for the self, stressing that for her, literature is a space for revelation, recovery, and redrawing the image of African women in modern literature. She said that literature will remain for her a tool for resistance and healing, and a constant search for human truth.

While writers and novelists emphasized that the story represents the memory of nations and their bridge to the future, pointing out that it is not only a means of entertainment, but rather a tool that connects generations to their roots and enhances the presence of language and culture in the collective consciousness.

This came during a symposium entitled “Preserving Culture and Heritage through Storytelling,” with the participation of Shazia Khan, Bashayer Al-Issa, and Dr. Ahmed Al-Khouri, who discussed the role of narrative in consolidating values, enhancing cultural identity, and transmitting heritage in a manner that combines education and creativity.

At the conclusion of the session, the participants agreed on the importance of integrating narrative literature into educational curricula and expanding the presence of local stories in schools, stressing that stories are not a cultural luxury, but rather a tool for building awareness and preserving national memory because nations that tell their stories remain able to renew themselves in the consciences of their children.

A number of writers and novelists discussed the concept of “personality reincarnation” in creative writing during a dialogue session within the activities of the 44th session of the Sharjah International Book Fair, which brought together the writer and writer Nabil Suleiman, the internationally award-winning novelist Katia Abikina, the writer and researcher Rahaf Al-Saba, and the writer Sarah Labrie.

The writer and writer Nabil Suleiman emphasized that during the writing process, the writer lives in all his characters, whether they are good or evil, a man or woman, a killer or a victim.

For her part, novelist Katya Abikina spoke about her experience in building characters and said: “When I write, I put a lot of emotion in the text, not necessarily because I agree with the character, but because I try to understand his motives.”

Writer and researcher Rahaf Al-Saba explained that impersonating a character represents a kind of “advanced emotional intelligence,” while writer and editor Sarah LaBrie considered that the writer must delve deeply into his emotions and work according to what his feelings dictate to him in order to explore them honestly despite the difficulty that accompanies that.

A number of experts and producers participated in another dialogue session entitled “From page to screen: How words turn into scenes that dazzle the world.”

Tamer Saeed, director of the Sharjah Literary Agency, producer Lama Al-Sabah, and writer and screenwriter Nadine Jaber, stressed that transforming the novel into a successful dramatic work requires integrated cooperation between the writer, the literary agent, and the producer to ensure that the spirit of the text is preserved and presented in an effective visual style that touches the audience, stressing that Arab drama today is required to reflect people’s reality and concerns and express society’s stories honestly, away from exaggeration and dreamy scenes.

The participants stressed that the presence of specialized literary agencies contributes to building professional bridges between literature and art, and ensures the protection of writers’ rights and the sustainability of creativity.

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