Poetry brings Arabs and Africans together in “Kitab”

The magazine published three interviews with Tunisian poet Moncef Mezghani, Portuguese poet and playwright Tabe João Pedro, and Chadian novelist, poet, and composer Kar Cass Son who believes that African and Arab writers share common struggles, highlighting the influence of Arab culture in his writings and describing language as "a space for encounter, not for demarcation of borders."

Centre for Arab Studies at the University of Coimbra

 In the editorial of the magazine's 84th issue, His Excellency Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of SBA, wrote about the opening of the Centre for Arab Studies at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, as part of Sharjah's international initiative to establish the Arab Cultural Institute Network.

Al Ameri stated that the achievements in the record of Sharjah's cultural project, led and sponsored by His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, in accordance with his wise vision, continue for five decades. he added that within the framework of the Arab Cultural Institute network, launched on August 30, 2024, in Milan, with the inauguration of the institute at the Sacred Heart Catholic University of Italy, a new date, October 3, 2025, marks the cultural history of Sharjah, with the opening of the headquarters of the Centre for Arab Studies at the prestigious Portuguese university, which was founded in 1290.

Cultural bridge from Sharjah to the continents

 Al Ameri continued by saying that this second milestone in the institute's network comes as Sharjah reaffirms the importance of building hearts and minds with love, culture, and equal dialogue, embodying the directives of Her Highness Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of SBA, who is always keen to promote dialogue, understanding, cooperation, and partnership, based on respect for people's cultures, building bridges of communication, and appreciating difference as diversity, multiplicity, and human strength. There is no bridge more beautiful than that of literature, thought, and the arts, founded on noble values.

The October issue of Kitab magazine, published under the slogan "A Cultural Bridge from Sharjah to the Continents," featured numerous articles, studies, news of new publications, and reviews of books published in Arabic, Bulgarian, French, Spanish, and English.

Thread and needle

In his "Raqim" column, Managing Editor Ali Al Ameri wrote an article titled "Writing with Thread and Needle," in which he highlighted the aesthetics of Arabic calligraphy and the knotted ropes used by the Inca civilisation. He also referred to Palestinian embroidery, describing grandmothers and mothers as "the chroniclers of the history of Palestine and its capital, Jerusalem, with thread and needle."