"Sharjah libraries" It opens a dialogue about music in popular memory

2026/06/12 9:41:19 PM

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Sharjah, June 12 / WAM / The “Big Book Club” event, organized by Sharjah Public Libraries at the Student Forum at the University of Sharjah, confirmed that the novel is capable of opening new windows for reading society and popular memory, by tracing seemingly familiar details in daily life, such as sound, singing, and social events.

The session highlighted the presence of popular music as part of the oral heritage in the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf, and a means of understanding people’s relationship with art and heritage, in addition to the role of the novel in pushing the reader to research, knowledge, and openness to history, philosophy, and sociology.

The session, which was hosted by the university’s Student Forum, discussed the novel “Except Your Grandmother Used to Sing,” with the participation of its author, Emirati writer Salha Obaid, in the presence of Iman Bushalibi, Director of the Sharjah Public Libraries Department, and an elite group of academics, employees, students, and those interested in cultural and literary affairs. During the meeting, she reviewed the intellectual and social backgrounds of the work and the issues it raises related to identity, freedom, and the relationship with heritage.

Iman Bushalibi said: Sharjah libraries are keen to connect the reader with the writer, and give the public an opportunity to be part of the dialogue about the literary work. A direct meeting with the author opens up a space to understand the creative experience from within, and brings the reader closer to the questions that led to writing the work, and to the worlds that were formed between its pages.”

She added that the novel (Except Your Grandmother Used to Sing) restores a social and cultural memory close to people’s consciences, and brings the reader back to a time that many nostalgia for, through language that carries a poetic character that matches the theme of music, sound, and memory.