First Doha International Children’s Book Festival gets under way

DOHA: The first Doha International Children’s Book Festival organised by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) and Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing (BQFP) opened yesterday at the Doha Exhibition Center.

Education Institute Director Sabah Al Haidoos inaugurated the three-day festival which is under the patronage of H E Saad bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, Minister of Education and Higher Education and Secretary General of the Supreme Education Council.

Al Haidoos said the SEC is seeking to enhance students’ reading skills as they are the future of Qatar’s development and contributors to achieving Qatar’s 2030 vision. She said the SEC is striving to make reading the basic foundation for the education of children and not just a tool for study to pass tests.

“It is evident that most of the information that people obtain is provided through reading. We encourage students to read and, in cooperation with Bloomsbury, we will provide a number of books both by Arab and international authors,” said Al Haidoos.

“The festival is very important in demonstrating the importance of books and reading for children of different ages. The SEC reading programme has been implemented in all independent schools and the festival will help in the application of the program and provision of the books. It will also instill the love of reading in the students through training conducted by the authors,” she added.

Backgrounds of the visiting authors and illustrators of children’s books were presented before the kick-off of series of workshops and presentations for children which are aimed at nurturing reading habits and promoting values and literary culture among the younger generation.

The festival also features public events for schools and families as well as professional events for writers and illustrators for children’s books.

A highlight of yesterday’s inaugural festival opening was the launch of the first series of pre-school books which was a joint project by Al Jazeera Children’s Channel (JCC) and BQFP.

The books feature the magical world of animated TV characters Fafa and her friends. FaFa and her friends Moumou, Oti and Douka offer a daily set of segments on Baraem TV designed to add rhythm to children’s lives, provide caring advice on appropriate behaviour, and place them in a stimulating and educative environment full of new information to nurture their curiosity. FaFa and her friends are the central characters in the various adventures featured in the four illustrated books that will bring additional exploration to the readers.

The titles are part of BQFP’s commitment to developing quality, original work in Arabic and English to inspire a love of reading at an early age. The series’ author, Sally Grindley, and illustrator, are in Qatar for the launch and are conducting workshops in the literary festival attended by children from independent schools and co-sponsored by the SEC.

At the special launch, an array of fun and creative activities for preschoolers from local nurseries took place including a book signing by the author and a photo session with FaFa. “Written by one of the UK’s best children’s writers and beautifully illustrated, the Fafa and Friends books are a wonderful example of Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing’s commitment to producing books of excellence in English and Arabic for the children of the region,” said Anne Renahan, Managing Editor at BQFP. “Today marks a new milestone in the life of JCC as we expand our content’s footprint into the publishing industry. As an edutainment TV channel, we are committed to providing our viewers with safe and educational content across all platforms, and more importantly to encouraging them to develop their mental abilities and expand their vocabulary in Arabic and other languages,” said Malika Alouane, Director of Programming of Al Jazeera Children’s Channel and Baraem TV.

Source: The Peninsula, December 1, 2010

 {jcomments on}