Kalimat Group highlights African narratives at SFAL

As part of its participation, Kalimat Group organised a dedicated pavilion that brought together its imprints, Kalimat and Rewayat, showcasing a curated selection of publications that explore Africa through storytelling, history, imagination, and the human experience. They also contributed to the festival’s cultural programme through a series of discussion sessions that brought together writers from the UAE and Africa, notably Zimbabwean author and novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga, winner of the Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature Award, and the Emirati author Amal Alsahlawi, who read her poems at the opening of the festival.

Africa as it writes itself

Commenting on the Group’s participation, Ahmed Al Ali, Editor-In-Chief & Managing Director of Kalimat Group, said the festival provided a platform for multi-directional cultural exchange. “Our participation in the Sharjah African Literature Festival reflected our belief in literature as a living space for cultural exchange. The festival offered readers the opportunity to encounter Africa as it writes itself, through the plurality of its voices, the richness of its literary production, and the depth of its human narratives.”

He added: “Through our pavilion bringing together Kalimat and Rewayat, and through active participation in the festival’s cultural programme, we sought to build inclusive reading pathways for all age groups while introducing African culture as one rooted in identity and memory. This participation aligns with Sharjah’s vision and its ongoing efforts to build sustainable literary bridges between the Arab world and Africa, while supporting publishing and translation.”

Kalimat and young readers’ windows on Africa

Kalimat imprint presented titles that open a humanitarian, environmental, and aesthetic window on Africa for children and young adults. For children, it presented ‘Dr Wangari Maathai Plants a Forest’ by Corrine Purtill, illustrated by Eugenia Mello, a simplified and inspiring biography of Wangari Maathai.

For young adults, Kalimat showcased a series of novels by Lauren St John, including ‘The White Giraffe’, ‘Sapobona’, and ‘The Elephant’s Tale’, as well as ‘The Last Leopard’, ‘Dolphin Song’, and ‘Operation Rhino’. It also featured the ‘Extraordinary Journeys’ series by Ashraf Al-Khamisi, comprising ‘Taymoor and King Gandilo’, ‘Taymoor and the Curse of the Sea King’, ‘Taymoor and Boasa Island’, and ‘Taymoor and Sultan Barqooq’.

Rewayat and African narratives across languages

Rewayat imprint presented a range of titles spanning translated novels, Arabic fiction, memoirs and letters, and short stories. In translated fiction, it showcased the trilogy by Tsitsi Dangarembga, translated by Reem Dawood: ‘Nervous Conditions’, ‘The Book of Not’, and ‘This Mournable Body’. Rewayat also presented ‘Transcendent Kingdom’ by Ghanaian-American author Yaa Gyasi, translated by Ahmed Al-Meini.

Arabic novels and short stories

In Arabic fiction, Rewayat highlighted one of the most important novels of modern Arabic literature by Sudanese author Tayeb Salih, ‘Season of Migration to the North’, alongside two works from his trilogy: ‘The Wedding of Zein and Other Stories’ and ‘Bandarshah’.

The memoirs and letters selection included ‘Mansi: A Rare Man in His Own Way’ by Tayeb Salih, in addition to a collection of short stories, including ‘Braid Ritual’ by Egyptian author Ayda Mahgoub.