Reads by Emirati Authors

A World Book Day reading list from the Emirates Literature Foundation is putting five Emirati authors at the center of the UAE’s literary push this week. (biztoday.news) Biz Today published the list on April 22, one day before World Book and Copyright Day on April 23. The Foundation framed the picks as a showcase for “homegrown voices” at a moment when it had just been named a 2026 Sheikh Zayed Book Award winner. (biztoday.news) (alc.ae) The five books span poetry, fiction and children’s literature: *House to House* by Shamma Al Bastaki, *Circle of Spice* by Salha Obaid, *Of Palm Trees and Skies* by Dr Afra Atiq, *Tomorrow, I Will Fly* by Maitha Al Khayat, and *Athba’s Gift* by Fatima Al Mazrouei. Biz Today said the list was curated by ELF Publishing, the Foundation’s publishing arm. (biztoday.news) (elfpublishing.me) The selections map onto a broader cultural strategy in Dubai and Abu Dhabi: build readership, publish local writers, and move Arabic and Emirati stories into wider regional and international circulation. The Emirates Literature Foundation says it supports readers, writers, publishers, students, teachers and librarians through festivals, workshops, book clubs and digital programs. (elfdubai.org) (alc.ae) That timing is part of the point. World Book and Copyright Day is the annual April 23 observance used worldwide to promote reading, publishing and authors’ rights, and the UAE list plugs Emirati writing into that global calendar. (unesco.org) (biztoday.news) The books themselves are pitched as entry points into Emirati life and memory. *House to House* uses multilingual poems and oral-history fragments around Dubai Creek from the 1940s to the 1980s, while *Circle of Spice* follows Sherihan, a woman from a spice-trading family who experiences the world through scent. (biztoday.news) Biz Today described *Of Palm Trees and Skies* as a collection on heritage and belonging written across English, Arabic and French. It said *Tomorrow, I Will Fly* follows a girl named Aisha and her falcon Majd, and *Athba’s Gift* centers on a pearl discovered in the sea. (biztoday.news) Ahlam Bolooki, chief executive of the Emirates Literature Foundation and managing director of ELF Publishing, said the goal is to tell local stories “in our own voices and on our own terms.” The Foundation’s publishing arm says it was launched under the Emirates Literature Foundation to publish books that celebrate local voices, heritage and imagination. (gulftoday.ae) (elfpublishing.me) For readers outside the Gulf, the list works as a short route into contemporary Emirati writing on the day the global book world turns its attention to authors. For the Foundation, it is also a public marker of the work it says it is doing year-round: inspiring readers, nurturing writers and connecting communities. (biztoday.news) (elfdubai.org)