Sharjah raises the UAE flag in the heart of Warsaw and puts Poland in a lively dialogue with Emirati and Arab culture

Warsaw, June 3, 2026 – The Emirate of Sharjah concluded its participation in the Warsaw International Book Fair 2026 as the first Arab guest of honor in the history of the exhibition, raising the flag of the United Arab Emirates high in the heart of the Polish capital, Warsaw, for four continuous days, once again embodying the harvest of decades of the project of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, in consolidating the emirate’s position as a global center for culture and a premier destination for culture. Emirati and Arab culture in front of the world, and succeeded in transforming Warsaw into an open space for a lively dialogue between the Emirati and Polish cultures that extended from the corridors of the exhibition to the city’s spaces and its academic and cultural institutions.

Emirati folk songs and arts flourished in Warsaw’s squares and theatres, while major Polish universities hosted an elite group of Emirati writers and creators in educational meetings and dialogues, at a time when it hosted the National Stadium in Warsaw, which hosted the exhibition’s activities – 35 cultural and dialogue events with the participation of 36 writers, poets, artists and creative people from the UAE and Poland, in the presence of 21 cultural and knowledge institutions. To the emirate’s progress, Sharjah represented an integrated Emirati and Arab cultural scene that left a wide impact on the Polish and European scene.

Sharjah’s participation in the exhibition came through a high-level official and cultural delegation headed by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Sharjah Book Authority, in a celebration that reflects international appreciation for the role played by the emirate in the global cultural scene and for the position that its civilizational project has established as a pioneering Arab model in building culture and knowledge and promoting dialogue between peoples.

His Excellency Ahmed bin Rakad Al Ameri, CEO of the Sharjah Book Authority, stressed that Sharjah’s participation in the exhibition embodies the cultural vision of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, which established culture as a sustainable civilizational project and a tool for human understanding and rapprochement between societies, noting that this vision continues to be present today through the follow-up and leadership role of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Authority’s Board of Directors, in consolidating Sharjah’s position as a global center for books, publishing and knowledge and enhancing the presence of Emirati and Arab culture. On the international scene.

He said that what we witnessed in Warsaw of wide interest and remarkable interaction with the Sharjah Pavilion and its cultural, artistic and academic program reflects the ability of culture to build real bridges between peoples when it is presented as a living act open to dialogue, exchange and acquaintance. We have noticed great interest from the Polish public in Emirati and Arab literature and in the heritage, arts and cognitive experiences that Sharjah brought to Warsaw.

His Excellency added that Sharjah not only attends international forums as a representative of Emirati culture, but also as a voice for Arab culture in all its richness, diversity and historical depth, noting that participation has laid promising paths for cooperation between the United Arab Emirates and Poland in the fields of publishing, translation, rights exchange, and the book industry.

For his part, Jacek Orel, Director of the Warsaw International Book Fair, said in his speech during the closing ceremony of the exhibition, that the participation of Sharjah, the guest of honor of the fifth session of the exhibition, constituted an exceptional presence by all standards and contributed to this year’s session being one of the most distinguished and richest sessions for the Polish public and visitors to the exhibition.

He added that Sharjah presented an integrated and diverse cultural program that went beyond the limits of traditional participation in book fairs, and succeeded in transforming its presence into a live cultural experience that extended from literature and publishing to art, heritage and academic dialogue, which left a clear impact on the Polish public and participating cultural institutions.

Orel stressed that the efforts led by Sharjah during the exhibition days opened a wide window for the Polish public to gain a deeper understanding of Emirati and Arab culture, its richness, diversity and creative history, noting that this participation established a new path of cultural rapprochement and mutual dialogue between Poland and the Arab world.

He praised the work team of the Sharjah Book Authority and the high professionalism it demonstrated in preparing and implementing the program, which reflected an inspiring model in how to celebrate culture and the book industry and in employing knowledge and creativity to build bridges between communities, stressing that it was an exceptional experience in all its details and will remain one of the most prominent stations of the exhibition this year.

The dialogue seminars hosted by the Sharjah Pavilion formed a main focus of participation, as it brought together writers and creators from the UAE and Poland in a series of meetings that discussed the transformations witnessed by the Emirati and Polish novels, the presence of history and memory in the narratives, and the cultural and human intersections between the two experiences, in addition to the future of children’s literature and writing for new generations.

These sessions opened the door to a deep dialogue about the role of literature in building bridges between peoples, and how the local story, when it starts from its own environment, can reach a common human horizon that transcends language, geography, and cultural differences.

Participation was not limited to the literary program within the exhibition, but rather extended to Warsaw’s cultural and academic spaces, where the University of Warsaw witnessed activities and meetings that dealt with various features of the Emirati cultural movement, from theatre, novels and poetry to visual arts and new creative experiences, which allowed a Polish academic and research audience to approach the Emirati cultural experience from multiple cognitive angles.

In parallel with the literary presence, the visual arts emerged as another space for cultural dialogue through an art exhibition that presented mutual visual readings between the UAE and Poland through works by Emirati artists who were inspired by poems by Polish poets and works by Polish artists who presented visual treatments of Emirati poems in an experience that combined words with images and expanded the interaction between poetry and visual art within a common visual language.

Sharjah came out to the city through the performances of the Emirati folk band, which was held in multiple stations in Warsaw and presented to the Polish audience an aspect of the performing arts and the Emirati musical heritage, amid remarkable interaction from the audience, in a scene that reflected the presence of Emirati culture outside the official halls and its direct access to the public space.

The Emirati heritage was also present in its daily details through the traditional crafts that welcomed visitors inside the Sharjah Pavilion, where Emirati craftswomen presented live demonstrations of the art of talli and folk costumes, in addition to introducing perfumes, incense, traditional accessories, and practices related to local identity, which allowed visitors to learn closely about elements of the inherited material and oral Emirati culture.

On the book industry side, the participation witnessed professional meetings between Emirati and Polish publishers that focused on exchanging copyrights and translation and discussing prospects for future cooperation in transferring literature between the Arabic and Polish languages, in addition to the Sharjah Pavilion presenting six titles translated into the Polish language, which enhances the presence of Emirati literature in new markets and opens the way for Polish literature to reach the Arab reader, within a vision that views translation as an extended cultural bridge between peoples.

The Sharjah Pavilion also recorded a remarkable public presence throughout the days of the exhibition, which culminated in the sale of 280 books from the publications displayed in the pavilion, in a scene that reflects the amount of interaction that Emirati culture and Arabic literature enjoyed among the exhibition’s audience and the growing interest in learning about the literary and knowledge production coming from the UAE and the Arab region.

With this multiple presence in Warsaw, Sharjah left a wide cultural and humanitarian impact, confirming its position as a continuing Arab project in creating global cultural dialogue and in presenting Emirati and Arab culture to the world.

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