Books and activities continue to draw families to SCRF 2025

Sharjah 24: Amin Abdullah and his wife Salsabeel are at the 16th edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2025) with their children buying a trolley full of books. The Sudanese parents who live in Sharjah have carefully picked storybooks in English and Arabic for their daughters aged 8 and 2 years, and son aged 4.

“I need to extract the maximum benefit from books for my children and SCRF helps me find books at the best possible prices. I cannot afford to buy books for AED 70-80 each from bookshops; but here I can get the same for less than AED 40. I need to fill their holidays with meaningful activities, and books are the ideal solution to keep them away from electronic gadgets. Every hour they need a new book as they finish quickly and get bored,” said the mother. “We need to hurry now as we have to attend the Cookery show and also help my kids attend some of the workshops here,” added Amin.

Families with young children form the bulk of the visitors to SCRF 2025 especially on evenings and weekends. They not only find bargain buys at the bookstalls, but line up for the numerous workshops and cultural programmes that are offered free of charge.

Eight-year-old Joseph Liang, a Year 4 student at Repton School Dubai, is hunting for storybooks at the Big Bad Wolf pavilion while his mother Wing Zhang is checking out books to improve her English. The family from China, who has been living in Dubai for the past two years, is at SCRF for the first time. Wing is fascinated by the books on display and hopes to buy some.

Amna, Mariam and Hamid, who attend Habitat School Ajman in Grade 6, 5 and 3 respectively, are at SCRF with their father Zahir to buy books. The Indian family, who were drawn to the festival by the posts on social media, also plan to check out the workshops.

“I have come from Dubai with my two little girls aged four and one, and I hope to buy some books,” said Selena from Germany. “I also want to look at the indoor activities that are on offer.”

Yahya Mustafa, a Grade 7 student in an Ajman school, is at SCRF with his parents and younger siblings Mariam and Noah to check out the book deals. Accompanying the family is their friend’s daughter Raneem Ahmed, a Grade 3 student. While Yahya has chosen an Arabic novel and Noah a book on Weird Animals, the girls have selected The Girls’ Summer Book of puzzles and games and a copy of Frozen II. The family finds SCRF a fascinating venue for books and children’s activities.

Taking place from April 23 to May 4 at Expo Centre Sharjah, the 16th edition of SCRF promises an immersive experience under the theme “Dive into Books”. Organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA), this year’s agenda features 133 guests from 70 countries, and 122 Arab and international publishing houses from 22 nations.