“About the Event”

This Festival intends to actualize this vision of a reading nation with teacher-trainees, teachers, school leaders, teacher-educators at the forefront. It is meant to be a vibrant month-long event with university-wide literary talent show, literary café sessions celebrating local and UAE-based authors and illustrators, reading challenges, conversations with academics and practitioners on engaging readers, and award-winning international authors and illustrators sharing their literary and creative process throughout the event.

The festival intends to go beyond the idea of reading as a mere skill that needs to be acquired, but reading as a way to know and understand one’s self and the world – and the role that each of us play in building a more equitable, sustainable, humane, and inclusive society.