Bodour Al Qasimi opens the festival "Sharjah African Literature" 2026
SHARJAH, 15 JANUARY / WAM / Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Sharjah Book Authority, in the presence of Her Excellency Maryam Mwinyi, First Lady of Zanzibar, Founder and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Zanzibar Foundation, Maisha Bora, inaugurated the activities of the second session of the Sharjah African Literature Festival, which is organized by the Sharjah Book Authority in the University City under the slogan “In the Footsteps of Africa”.
Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi honored Zimbabwean writer and novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga with the Sharjah Literary Appreciation Award in recognition of her literary and intellectual career and her profound contribution to enriching African and international literature.
The opening was attended by His Excellency Ahmed bin Rakad Al Ameri, CEO of the Sharjah Book Authority, and His Excellency Gayton Mackenzie, Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture in South Africa, along with a number of senior officials, heads of cultural bodies and institutions concerned with the book and publishing industry, and a group of Emirati and African writers and thinkers.
The ceremony began with an artistic performance by the Dow Music Academy band, which embodied the spirit, rhythm, and living memory of Africa and presented a performance that mixed singing, dancing, and messages of hope, love, and solidarity, based on its community roots in the Limpopo region.
During her tour through the festival’s corridors, Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi was briefed on the event platforms and accompanying cultural programmes, met a number of participating writers, publishers and guests, and stopped at the artistic crafts pavilions and the children’s workshops area.
The festival, which continues until January 18, brings together 20 African writers, male and female, and 9 Emirati writers, with the aim of celebrating African literature and highlighting its narrative transformations and modern trends, in addition to strengthening bridges of cultural and knowledge exchange between Africa and the Arab world.
The festival witnesses a program full of literary and creative events, including 20 dialogue and discussion sessions dealing with the reality and future of African literature, 5 poetry evenings, 20 workshops dedicated to children, in addition to 10 cooking sessions.
The program includes interactive meetings and signing ceremonies, in addition to artistic and musical performances, and highlights Zanzibar, Ethiopia and South Africa, their literary movement and the growth of their publishing sector, in addition to their linguistic and cultural diversity, which reflects the richness of African literature.
His Excellency Ahmed bin Rakad Al Ameri stressed in his opening speech that the Sharjah African Literature Festival embodies a solid cultural vision led by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, who has repeatedly written about Africa and the presence of Arabs in it, a presence rooted in it dating back hundreds of years. He pointed out that the opening of the second session of the festival represents at the same time a new page in Emirati-African relations based on knowledge, literature and thought.
Al Ameri added: “Sharjah has been linked to Africa throughout history through books, markets, travel and language, and today it is linked to it under the leadership and guidance of Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi through literature and thought. From this standpoint, the festival comes as a living translation of the depth of those ties and an opportunity to rediscover them in a contemporary form that addresses the future.”
In turn, Her Excellency Maryam Mwinyi said that Africa’s stories are not written in books alone, but are woven into their terrain, crafts, songs, and people’s lifestyles. Literature, like heritage, carries memory and identity and stores future potential.
For his part, His Excellency Guyton Mackenzie, Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture of South Africa, praised the organization of the Sharjah African Literature Festival as a platform that celebrates African literature, culture and creative imagination and opens a space for dialogue, cultural exchange and cooperation. He stressed that nurturing emerging literary voices, expanding reading, and providing access to books, education, and imagination is not a cultural luxury, but rather a necessity to build more aware and resilient societies, calling for strengthening ties between literary communities in the UAE, South Africa, and the wider world.
The writer and novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga, winner of the Sharjah Literary Appreciation Award, is considered one of the most prominent literary voices on the African continent and the world. She is a Zimbabwean writer and film director who left a prominent mark on African literature through a prominent novel trilogy.
- For more: Follow Khaleejion 24 Arabic, Khaleejion 24 English, Khaleejion 24 Live, and for social media follow us on Facebook and Related
