Life
World Book Day arrives on April 23, and this year the celebration carries extra weight. The Emirates Literature Foundation has just been named a winner at the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, an honour that recognises its role in pushing Emirati culture onto the global stage. As the Foundation’s CEO Ahlam Bolooki puts it, the day isn’t really about dressing up as favourite characters—though that still happens—but about something deeper: owning identity and telling local stories on local terms. With that spirit in mind, here are five Emirati authors to discover, and exactly where to start with each.
Shamma Al Bastaki
An Emirati poet from Dubai whose work has travelled from Venice to Seoul, Al Bastaki writes with a preservationist’s instinct and an artist’s ear. She captures what fades.
Read: House to House – A poetry collection that reconstructs life along Dubai Creek from the 1940s through the 1980s. Multilingual verses and oral-history fragments bring the neighbourhood’s rhythms, memories, and everyday textures back from the brink of forgetting.
Salha Obaid
An award-winning author translated into English, German, and Italian, Obaid has become a leading voice in contemporary Emirati fiction. She writes through the senses.
Read: Circle of Spice – A novel about Sherihan, born into a family of spice traders, who experiences the world by scent. As Dubai transforms around her, aromas become emotional anchors—memory, identity, and belonging all carried on a whiff of cardamom or saffron.
Dr Afra Atiq
A celebrated poet and scholar known for her commanding stage presence, Atiq moves fluidly between English, Arabic, and French. Her work is warm but never sentimental.
Read: Of Palm Trees and Skies – A collection that asks what we inherit beyond property or names: emotional landscapes, a sense of belonging, the quiet weight of heritage. Reflective and resonant, these poems linger.
Ebtisam Al‑Beiti
An early-years educator turned children’s author, Al-Beiti writes for the youngest readers with purpose and playfulness. Her stories carry gentle lessons without lecturing.
Read: Fly, Red, Fly! – A joyful picture book about Red, a young dragon who dreams of taking flight. Colourful illustrations and a quiet message about courage and self-belief make this one for bedtime or the early reader just finding their footing.
Reem Al Kamali
The first Emirati novelist shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, Al Kamali writes historical fiction with a sharp eye for what goes unspoken.
Read: Rose’s Diaries – Set in 1960s Dubai, this novel follows Rūza, a young woman who secretly records her thoughts, frustrations, and ambitions in private diaries. Through her pages, a city on the edge of transformation comes into focus—and so does a woman navigating tradition, longing, and the right to her own voice.
These five authors span poetry, fiction, and children’s literature, and they’re telling the UAE’s stories from the inside out. World Book Day is just the excuse.
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Images: Supplied & Feature Image: Supplied
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: emirateswoman.com
