The Knowledge Without Borders initiative seized the opportunity of having 200 publishing houses under one roof at the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival to buy 33,000 Arabic books for its projects.
The initiative, which was launched in 2008 to provide Emirati families with free home libraries, is held under the direction of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and Shaikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, head of Knowledge Without Borders.
The initiative's book selection committee visited the festival to preview the books and then purchased 33,000 books during the first seven days of the festival, which started on April 23 and ends today.
Rashid Al Kous, Knowledge Without Borders project manager, said: "Since the home library offered to families includes children's books, the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival was a good opportunity for us as a project to get up-to-date releases directed at children and to provide the latest books to the leaders of the future, as these copies will be distributed in the project's next phase."
The initiative's next phase is planned for next year in Khor Fakkan.
The initiative recently completed distributing book shelves and accompanying books to 4,500 families in Kalba.
General knowledge
Knowledge Without Borders' participation in the festival is part of efforts to increase the general knowledge of local community members, while emphasising Sharjah's position as the cultural capital of the Arab world, and re-establishing a sense of national identity among its citizens.
The initiative was also a participant in the festival, and organised a number of lectures, workshops and educational activities for visitors to the festival.