From 18 to 28 April world readers felt like becoming children again at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, which attracted more than 300,000 visitors and featured more than 2,000 educational and leisure-time activities for children.
On the morning of 19 April the Expo Centre Sharjah hosted a lovely storytelling session with Beatrice Masini and Andrea Antinori, who read charming stories to children and engaged them in nice plays and activities. Beatrice Masini is an incredibly talented Italian writer who is specialized in children’s literature, indeed she translated the Harry Potter saga into Italian and in 2004 she won the prestigious Andersen Prize as best children’s author of the year. Andrea Antinori is a brilliant Italian illustrator whose drawings have been exhibited in national museums and festivals.
This event was organized by the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), a non-profit organization who aims at enriching Arabic children’s literature. UAEBBY is the UAE branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), a network of associations from 77 countries who are committed to making literature enticing for children.
The purpose of the storytelling session and of the whole festival was to promote the reading culture among children by engaging them in amusing activities. The result was a comprehensive experience that was involving, educational and, most importantly, fun and entertaining.
Langpros Key Role at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival
At Beatrice Masini and Andrea Antinori’s storytelling session we were in charge of providing simultaneous interpreting services Italian to English. We were not required to provide any technical equipment since the festival was already equipped for simultaneous interpreting.
As a simultaneous interpreter we selected Egyptian famous writer, translator and storyteller Lamya Tawfik, whose qualification and experience fitted her to perfection for this interpreting task. In fact, she holds a Doctorate Degree in Childhood Studies from Cairo University and is a talented storyteller well known in the Dubai scene. Her repertoire focuses on traditional stories from Egypt and the Middle East and she is committed to showing the world the beauty of Arabic oral tradition.
