Sharjah bridges African, Arab cultures

Literary events with a strong cultural theme are ideal platforms for knowledge exchange through interactions between attendees and translations of books, said publishers and booksellers from Africa participating in the second edition of the Sharjah Festival of African Literature (SFAL 2026).

“This festival is a lovely learning curve, not just for people from outside Africa, but also for Africans themselves,” said James Odhiambo, CEO of Kenya Publishers Association, an umbrella organisation of 158 publishers. “For example, I realised through my interactions at the festival that Ethiopian writing styles and stories are quite different from their counterparts in Swahili language. We normally don’t meet and now we can interact at the festival here in Sharjah.”

Odhiambo added that he was exploring opportunities of translating some works into Arabic through potential collaborations at SFAL 2026. “African and Arab works have some commonalities; Swahili and Arabic are intertwined, sharing many words,” he said.

‘This is how culture travels’

Mkuki Bgoya, Managing Director of Mkuki na Nyota Publishers from Tanzania, said the festival is “a welcome initiative because African literature is often overlooked by others”. He added that many African authors’ works are published outside Africa. “This festival allows them to be present and get authentic stories and voices to communicate with Arab publishers, trade in translation rights. This is how culture travels; how you see yourself in others and how others see themselves in you.”

Ditiro Huma, Director of Mosala Masedi Publishers and Booksellers from Johannesburg, South Africa, said: “This festival allows us to exchange culture and heritage; learn how the education system and literature sector works in the UAE. There is a lot of potential to build synergies between South Africa and UAE. And very few festivals offer a chance where you’re learning Arabic while hearing Ethiopian and enjoying different African cuisines.”

Tirhas Haile, Early Childhood Development Director at Whiz Kids Workshop, a bookseller from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, said SFAL provides “a great stage” for her plans to have Amharic works translated into Arabic. “The festival connects you with other publishers and writers from different parts of Africa and the world. It’s a chance to show your work, connect and collaborate.”

Under the theme ‘The African Way’, SFAL 2026 is taking place from January 14 to 18 at University City Hall Square in Sharjah.

Earlier, globally-acclaimed Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga shared the inspirational story behind her journey to becoming a multi-award winning writer through her hugely-popular first novel “Nervous Conditions”, at the second edition of the Sharjah Festival of African Literature (SFAL 2026).

During her in-conversation session, titled “Nervous Conditions”, Dangarembga on Thursday said she has been left “utterly surprised and grateful that the coming-of-age story of a rural Zimbabwean girl is “still being talked about”. As pointed out by session moderator Toyin Akanni, the book was first published decades ago, in the United Kingdom in 1988.

Nervous Conditions went on to spawn the Tambudzai Trilogy comprising Nervous Conditions, The Book of Not (2006) and This Mournable Body (2018).

The last one in the trilogy was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2020.

The series takes on from Nervous Conditions, in which Tambudzai, the main character, grapples with questions of race and gender during the colonial period of Rhodesia, which became independent Zimbabwe.

Her debut novel won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1989 and was described by the BBC in 2018 as one of the world’s most influential books.

Dangarembga, who received SFAL’s Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature Award at SFAL 2026, said she had realised during her 20s that there were no stories deeply relatable to young women and girls in her country at the time. “So I started writing and, ultimately, here we are today,” she added.

GENDER PARITY IN FOCUS, DRAWING INSPIRATION FOR CULTURAL CHANGE: Nervous Conditions explores themes of adolescence, family, gender, cultural expectations, and female empowerment. When asked what she has found “true and consistent” since the days of the groundbreaking book, Dangarembga replied: “The one thing that I have found to be true and consistent in the different spaces that I have worked in, is the struggle that women still have to face to be regarded as citizens of this world on an equal footing with other citizens.”