The Sharjah Pavilion at the Warsaw International Book Fair launches a cultural program for those interested in Arab and Polish cultures
Warsaw, 29 May / WAM / The Emirate of Sharjah opened its cultural program at the Warsaw International Book Fair 2026 with a poetry evening entitled “The Banks” that brought together the Emirati poet Kholoud Al Mualla and the Polish poet Warsula Morga in a literary meeting hosted by the Sharjah Pavilion as part of the emirate’s participation as guest of honor for the fifth session of the exhibition.
The evening came as an open space for dialogue between two poetic experiences belonging to two different cultures that meet in language and common human feeling, where Arabic and Polish intertwined in mutual readings that crossed the poem between the two sides of culture and opened a window to the contemporary Emirati poetic scene for the exhibition audience.
The Sharjah Pavilion also hosted a poetry meeting entitled “Echoes” with the participation of Emirati poets Dr. Abdul Hakim Al Zubaidi and Dhaen Shaheen, along with the Polish poet Jack Possiadlo, in the presence of literature and poetry audiences, publishers, and those interested in Arab and Polish cultures.
In a related context, the pavilion hosted Dr. Sultan Al-Amimi and the Polish academic and translator Dr. Barbara Michalak, in a dialogue session entitled “Arabic and Polish Literature… Dialogue of Cultures and the Translation of Meaning,” in the presence of an audience of readers, publishers, and those interested in Arabic literature, translation, and studies. It opened a space for discussion about the cultural intersections between Arabic and Polish literature and the role of translation in building cognitive and human bridges that transcend language and geography and give texts new life in other cultures.
During the session, Dr. pointed out: Sultan Al Amimi pointed out that Polish literature occupies a firm position in the global literary scene, which is confirmed by its historical experience and its continued presence in major awards, pointing out that Poland has presented a number of the most prominent literary voices that have reached the international level, and a number of its writers have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, including poet Wisława Szymborska and writer Olga Tokarczuk.
He added that this presence reflects the depth of the Polish literary experience and the humanitarian themes it carries that are able to cross between languages and cultures, noting that global interest in Polish literature today opens a fertile space for dialogue with Arab and Emirati literature.
Al-Amimi stressed that the encounter between languages and civilizations through literature opens an important gateway towards human rapprochement because writing remains one of the spaces most capable of revealing commonalities between peoples and creating a dialogue that transcends language and geography towards a deeper understanding of man and his common experience.
He also stopped at the impact of the Arabic language on the Polish language, pointing out that the presence of Arabic vocabulary in it may seem limited, but it is present and clear in a number of words that have moved over time between languages and cultures until they settled into daily use, describing this as a “migration of words” throughout history.
He added that the need today is not limited to the transfer of vocabulary, but also extends to the transfer of ideas and human experiences, saying that the world needs “another migration” that carries Emirati and Arab literature and thought to Polish culture through translation, reading and direct cultural exchange.
Al Amimi spoke about the historical roots of Emirati literature, pointing out that the delay in its written documentation does not mean its recent origin, but rather is linked to the history of blogging, printing and publishing. He explained that many of the literary experiences in the United Arab Emirates long preceded their appearance in books and remained present in popular memory and in poetry, tales and proverbs passed down between generations.
He added that what we have received of Nabati poetry in the Emirates dates back approximately four or five hundred years, and its texts carry deep human and intellectual dimensions that are still readable and contemplative even today, pointing out that the Emirati dialect itself stores in its linguistic and cultural structure layers of memory connected to Arabic and its historical roots.
At the conclusion of his speech, Al Amimi expressed his hope that Emirati literature, through the Polish language and translation, would reach the Polish reader as an expression of an authentic and ancient cultural face, rich in its vocabulary, questions, and human images, and capable of opening new spaces for rapprochement and communication between the two cultures.
For her part, Dr. Barbara Michalak said that the Polish academic relationship with the Arabic language extends back a long history, noting that Jagiellonia University, which is one of the oldest universities in Poland and Europe, carries an academic legacy dating back centuries, while teaching the Arabic language began there at the beginning of the twentieth century.
She explained that the Arabic Language Department at the university was founded in 1919, starting from that time a continuous academic journey with Arabic literature and its studies, pointing out that the Polish orientalist Professor Tadeusz Kowalski was one of the most prominent founders of this scientific path through his research and translations of Arabic poetry, which contributed to the consolidation of Arabic studies in Poland and the building of continuing knowledge traditions in this field.
She added that the department gradually expanded from a small academic program to part of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the university, which today includes a number of specializations related to Eastern languages and cultures, including Arabic and Turkish, in an expansion that reflects the depth of the academic presence of Arabic and the continuity of interest in it across generations.
Michalak touched on a scientific and cultural experience that brings together the university in Sharjah, noting that the university annually organizes a scientific trip for its students to the emirate in which students specializing in the Arabic language participate, with the aim of practicing it in its original environment and learning about its direct cultural context.
She said that the students start their day at the Arabic Language Complex in Sharjah, where they practice the Arabic language on a daily basis before moving on to visit cultural and scientific institutions in the emirate, considering that this experience gives them a rare opportunity to discover the Arabic language from within its daily and cultural life and opens up to them a deeper understanding of Arab society from within.
She pointed out that transferring Emirati literature to another language does not mean simply transferring the text from one language to another, but rather goes beyond that to reveal areas of human convergence and similarity between peoples and highlight the diversity, difference and overlap that literary and popular experiences carry at the same time, stressing that translation gives literature an additional ability to build bridges of deeper understanding between societies.
To the rhythm of drums and Emirati folk songs, visitors to the Warsaw International Book Fair 2026 gathered around the “Sharjah National Band”, which brought to the Polish capital a lively aspect of Emirati heritage arts as part of the participation of the Emirate of Sharjah, guest of honor in the new session of the exhibition.
In front of the Sharjah Pavilion and in the open squares surrounding the exhibition, the traditional performances turned into a space of attraction and interaction for the Polish audience and visitors to the exhibition, who gathered to follow the collective rhythms, folk dances and traditional performances that reflected features of the coastal, mountainous and desert environment in the United Arab Emirates.
Through these performances, the Sharjah Heritage Institute presented a visual and audio image of the Emirati cultural identity, as the performers appeared in white national costumes, accompanied by popular rhythms and harmonious collective movements that were associated with popular councils, celebrations and events in the Emirates.
The attendance of the performances was not limited to the exhibition only, but extended to a number of public squares and open theaters in Warsaw, bringing Emirati folk arts to the city’s audience and passers-by in an experience that carried the Emirati heritage into the daily space of the Polish capital.
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