Selected works draw attention to a creative surge in Arab children’s literature

Alexandria, Egypt – 1 October 2010:The Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation has announced the selected titles for the second edition of the “101 Books Exhibition”.

The exhibition, which was held for the first time in 2009, will be organized this year across Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, with the overarching aim of providing a broad audience of children in the Arab world with access to quality story books recently published and written in Arabic. 

The selection was made by a specialist jury from among more than three hundred and sixty eligible titles received from eleven countries in the Region, with special attention being taken to ensure a level of diversity in terms of country of origin, writer, illustrator and publishing house, as well as age group addressed, themes, subjects treated and genre.  The list includes works of seventy seven writers that had been submitted by thirty seven publishers.

The selected titles represent a variety that shows a remarkable boost in creativity in the Arab children’s literature industry in terms of text, design and illustration that encourage children from various age groups to read.

From the selected one hundred and one book titles, the jury members have also selected an honor list of the ten best books.

The honor list includes:

1. Bait Lil-Arnab Al-Saghir – Taghreed Aaref Al Najjar    (Dar Al Salwa, Jordan)
2. Ana Rasamt Al-Noqtah – Loma Aazer    (Dar Al Alam Al Arabi, UAE)
3. Mann Yastatee’ – Noura Abdulghany Muhanna    (Kadi and Ramadi, KSA)
4. Ma’eda Bela Maa’ – Malika Boudallia    (Al- Loun Al Sabee, Algeria)
5. Moghany Al Matar – Zakaria Muhammad    (Tamer Institute for Community Education, Palestine)
6. Al Amma Zayyoun wa Shajaret Al Zaitoun – Fatima Sharafelddin    (Tamer Institute for Community Education, Palestine & Asala Publishers, Lebanon)
7. Heyya, Homma, Hunna – Nahla Ghandour    (Al Khayyat Al Saghir, Lebanon)
8. Kayfa Ta’alamt Al Kitaba – Nisreen Ojeil    (Samir Editeur, Lebanon)
9. Al Osfoura wa Al Alwan  – Adly Rizkallah    (Nahdet Masr, Egypt)
10. Awraq Qadeema – Afaf Tobbalah    (Nahdet Masr, Egypt)

The Jury includes:

• Mrs. Wissam Ibrahim from Egypt is the Head Librarian at the Goethe Institut in Alexandria and has organised many activities related to developing Children's Literature and encouraging children to read and visit libraries.
• Mrs. Rabeea Al-Nasser from Jordan is a storyteller, a former teacher and a librarian and the founder of House of Tales and Music in Amman, Jordan. 

About the Arab Children’s Literature Regional Programme:

The Anna Lindh Foundation’s Arab Children Literature Regional Programme is a regional programme launched in 2006 with the support of Sida, and seeks to strengthen the intellectual, social and emotional development of children in the Arab region through developing children literature and promoting reading for pleasure.  The programme is being implemented in the five focus countries of the program; Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.

For more information on the programme and the 101 Book exhibition:

Telephone: (+203) 483 444 7

Fax: (+203) 487 38 55

E-Mail: children.literature@bibalex.org

Website: www.arabchildrenliterature.com