Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) announced that Dubai Public Libraries received Excellence Award in "I Know" Initiative, which was launched by Arab Federation for Libraries and Information; the largest professional and scientific federation for libraries and information in the Arab world, to honor libraries addressing Corona crisis, due to the distinguished services provided by libraries and their response to the needs of the public during this emergency crisis.
Dubai Culture submitted a file in which it presented the integrated role that Dubai Public Libraries played in response to the pandemic of "Covid-19". It also shed light on its work system, which included the temporary closure of libraries, internal organization and support of library staff, through the virtual follow-up and organization of works, communicating with staff, giving health instructions for them, as well as providing them with vocational training remotely.
Externally, Dubai Culture formed the remote action team to deal with libraries beneficiaries and communicate with the public during the crisis. An action plan was developed and a regular schedule was set for cultural, technical and educational programs for children and adults in Arabic and English. Social media platforms, like "Instagram," were used to broadcast the planned cultural programs and an employee was appointed to review the Arabic content before its broadcast to the public. In addition, the public inquiries were answered and responded immediately, whether by electronic means or SMS.
A meeting was held last Saturday between Mr. Tayfur Esen (President of the International Association of Children's Book Publishers in Turkey) and Mr. Hassan Muhammad Adnan Salem (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Children's Book Publishers Forum), in attendance of Dr. Muhammad Agir Akce. This fruitful meeting allowed to give an overview of the activities of both institutions, they discussed the areas of common cooperation, and ways to boost and strengthen the activities between all the institutions operating in the area of Children's books so as to establish joint targeted activities.
The Arab Children’s Book Publishers Forum announced the winners of the Award for the Best Child’s Book for the ninth session / 2022, which was granted, according to the jury’s decision, to a number of distinguished and outstanding works that fulfilled the Award criteria, namely:
Firstly: Early Childhood Books Category:
The Book entitled (Do Not Call Animals Out Loud)
The writer: Tamara Kashha and illustrations were made by Anna Zurita; the publisher: Dar Al Yasmeen / Jordan.
Secondly: Middle Childhood Books Category:
The Book entitled (This is why Rayan walks like this): The writer: Yahya Ashour and the illustrations were made by Abdullah Qawariq; the publisher: Tamer Institute for Community Education / Palestine.
Thirdly: Young People Books Category:
The Book entitled (The Garden): the writer: Reda Salam and the illustrations were made by Yasser Jaisa; the publisher: Wow Publishing and Educational Services, United Arab Emirates.
On this occasion, the Forum management congratulated the winners, wishing them continued excellence and success and it extended its best wishes to all members of the Forum.
Ms. Aisha Hamad Meghawer, Secretary-General of the Arab Children’s Book Publishers Forum, also praised this level of members’ publications, which reflects what the Forum seeks, with respect to serving the child’s book and raising the level of its members’ publications, so that it could remain a tributary that enriches the knowledge among the generations. In addition, it would play its role in upgrading Arab children’s literature. Then, she pointed out that this Award is dedicated for developing the children's book and encouraging the publishers to provide the best quality, which would contribute to motivating children to have and acquire the book, as well as develop their reading habit.
The Award’s jury concluded its work during the past few days in assessing the works participating in the ninth session of the Forum’s Award for the Best Child’s Book through a set of assessment criteria for this Award, which aims at the enhancement of the creative production of publishing house members of the Forum and development of their contributions in the publishing fields of the Arab child’s book.
The winners were honored on Saturday, 14/5/2022 within the activities of the Sharjah Reading Festival.
Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qassimi, President of International Publishers Association, invited African publishers to participate in the third session of the African Fund for Innovation in Publishing, which includes grants totaling USD 800,000, provided by “Dubai Cares” over a period of four years in cooperation with International Publishers Association, stressing that despite the challenges that Corona pandemic has imposed on the book industry, publishers have an opportunity for a fresh start.
This has been announced during the meeting of Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qassimi, with a number of members of Ghana Publishers Association and a group of local publishers, as she discussed with them, during her recent visit to Ghana, opportunities to enhance the future growth of the African publishing sector by taking advantage of the changes imposed by Corona pandemic at the global level.
Ghana's visit was done within a series of visits by the President of the International Publishers Association to a number of African countries, during which she would meet major institutions and companies of publishing industry in Africa, in order to promote dialogue and exchange knowledge and experiences and discuss the challenges faced by publishers. Sheikha Bodour believes that achieving these endeavors will pave the way for developing global partnerships and diversifying business models in the publishing industry.
During the meeting, Sheikha Bodour Al Qassimi shed light on the diversity of educational solutions in Africa, the opportunities provided by virtual education, the tendency of millions of African students to online education, in addition to the great opportunity for African publishers to have a new beginning. During the visit, the President of the International Publishers Association met the members of African Publishers Network and invited the most prominent stakeholders and concerned entities in the publishing industry to cooperate with the International Publishers Association and explore the existing opportunities.
