At the Sharjah International Book Fair this year, a special talk was held with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, also known as Ithra, from Saudi Arabia. Ithra gathered book lovers and previous champions of their popular reading contest to share experiences. They’re really into celebrating culture, art, and education. They even demonstrated their efforts to get more people hooked on reading and books during the event.
The talk had some special guests, including Tariq Khawaji, who helps run Ithra’s reading program, and two people who won their reading contests before: Duaa Hassnin from Egypt and Sufyan al-Buraq from Morocco, who won just this year. They even shared stories about how books have changed their lives and how much Ithra’s work has helped them in school and beyond.
Tariq Khawaji talked about how Ithra started in 2018 with the goal of getting more people to read and to shake up the cultural scene. Their reading contest began in a small area in Saudi Arabia, but it got so popular that it grew to include the whole country and then readers and writers from all over the Arab world.
The winners talked about their love for reading and how Ithra’s reading programs have made them even more excited about books. They explained that the reading contest played a big part in turning them into readers for life and opened up a world of different stories and books for them to enjoy.
This was a hit at the Sharjah International Book Fair and booklovers were inspired. The fair is still going on at the Expo Centre Sharjah until November 12, and this year’s theme is “We Speak Books.”
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