A creatively rich festival filled with cultural, artistic, and general life activities, full of knowledge and experiences that inspire and enhance children’s capabilities, was showcased at the “Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival” 2025. This year’s events included drawing sessions, discussions, various training workshops, theatrical performances, and musical concerts, among other activities.
Performance by “Eastern Spirit Choir”
In an evening that celebrated music with a blend of tradition, creativity, and vibrant interaction, the “Eastern Spirit Choir” captivated the audience on the main stage of the festival. The choir performed beloved themes from children’s animated series, which resonated with both young and old audience members, reminding them of cherished moments from their childhood.
The evening, themed “The Golden Generation,” featured famous songs from the “Spacetoon” channel, marking its 25th anniversary in collaboration with the festival. The interactive group performance revived fond memories and encouraged the audience to sing along to their favorite nostalgic tracks.
The choir, consisting of thirty talented young individuals, has gained wide recognition in Egypt and the Arab world due to its concerts and popular social media clips. They brilliantly delivered a harmonious mix of classic and contemporary songs.
Audience favorites included songs like “Conan,” “Remi,” “Thunderstorm,” “Once in Our Neighborhood, a Friendly Elephant Came,” “My Mother, an Unforgettable Memory,” and many others, delighting children and families alike. The enthusiastic applause reflected the children’s joyful discovery of music and choral art, enhancing their connection to their cultural heritage in an enjoyable educational setting, while inspiring an appreciation for the arts and music through this evocative experience.
The House of Wisdom is participating in the 16th edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival 2025, which is set to take place at the Sharjah Expo Center from April 23 to May 4. Their pavilion will highlight one of the timeless treasures of heritage, the tales of “Kalila wa Dimna,” which originated in ancient Indian literature, later translated into Middle Persian, and subsequently into Arabic by Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa, a prominent figure in Abbasid literary history. This has solidified the work’s esteemed place in Arab heritage.
The House of Wisdom aims to present “Kalila wa Dimna” to children in a modern, interactive style that blends learning and play, enhancing their critical thinking skills while encouraging them to explore ethical and human values through engaging experiences. These tales have played a significant role in guiding the youth and instilling moral values in their hearts through a wonderfully symbolic method.
Since its translation by Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa in the 8th century, it has become a literary and intellectual reference for education and upbringing, influencing numerous works in Arabic and global literature, with its timeless stories symbolizing wisdom and beautiful expression in our cultural heritage.
Commenting on the festival participation, Marwa Al-Aqroubi, Executive Director of the House of Wisdom, stated: “The symbolic literature reflected in the stories of Kalila wa Dimna represents one of the highest forms of world literature due to its timeless wisdom ingrained in children’s minds through animal characters, combining simplicity with depth. Abdullah ibn al-Muqaffa brilliantly translated these tales into Arabic, imparting a new spirit and content that reflects human and ethical values, adding a literary and educational dimension that resonates with the heart and mind.”
The House of Wisdom’s pavilion features several key stations, one of which is dedicated to manuscripts, showcasing two rare digitized copies of “Kalila wa Dimna” from the French National Library collection. The first is a manuscript titled “Kalila wa Dimna: The Rabbit and the Elephant,” a unique digitized version from 1222 AD, containing 89 exquisite original miniatures and consisting of eighteen chapters, each narrating a story through the voices of animals, intertwined with sub-stories and proverbial sayings in a style that blends wisdom with humor.
The second manuscript dates back to the 14th century, specifically the Mamluk period, likely written in Egypt or Syria. This rare copy includes an internal index and six stories from the tales attributed to the sage “Bidpai.”
In an interactive and joyful experience, children participating in the festival learned to prepare dough and bake it into balls resembling hamburger buns during a creative workshop titled “Animal-shaped Bread,” hosted in the cooking corner.
Using the usual ingredients of flour, water, sugar, salt, and yeast, the young participants learned how to mix and knead the dough until it reached the desired consistency. They then shaped the dough into balls, placed them in a bowl, covered them for a specified period, allowing them to rise before baking.
The children showcased their creativity by decorating their small, rounded pieces of bread into cats using colored sugar dough. They crafted two triangular pieces for ears, two round pieces for eyes, a small piece for the nose, and another for the mouth, then fashioned thin lines from the sugar dough to serve as whiskers.