The first festival, held in January 2025, attracted over 10,000 attendees, including 29 writers from the UAE and Africa. Some of those who took part included Nobel Prize winners Wole Soyinka and Abdulrazak Gurnah. Many individuals praised the event for bringing people from Africa and the Arab world together in an unusual way.
SFAL is still relatively unique in the Arab world. There were no other African literature-focused festivals in the Gulf or the Levant prior to Sharjah’s. Huge book fairs and huge literary events are not the same thing. African writers are frequently featured in the programs of other Arab festivals, but Sharjah is the only one that hosts an annual event dedicated to African storytelling and literary history.
The event is much more than just the content. It also has the long-term purpose of elevating African literature in Arab culture and encouraging continued intellectual interchange between the two regions.
Sharjah’s interest in African literature stems from a broader interest in African culture in the region. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of events and exhibitions dedicated to African arts and heritage. The majority, however, prioritises cultural expression over literature.
What distinguishes SFAL is its strong emphasis on literature. The festival delves deeply into Africa’s written and oral traditions, in addition to performances and folklore. It allows authors and philosophers to reflect on history, memory, and identity through African storytelling.
The event offers intimate experiences with African literature through conversations, poetry readings, and live storytelling. They can use this as an opportunity to be innovative and smart.
SFAL also encourages publishers and translators to publish African novels in Arabic. It accomplishes this by contributing to an ongoing cultural conversation that benefits the local literary scene and demonstrates Sharjah’s commitment to cultural variety and dialogue.
Sharjah and Pan-Arab activities
SFAL aligns Sharjah with a growing global movement that is popularising African literature around the world. For the past decade, African writing has been the focus of festivals around Europe. The development demonstrates that more and more people desire to hear African perspectives and tales.
One of the most well-known book fairs is the African Book Festival in Berlin, which debuted in 2018. It has swiftly become one of Europe’s most prominent literary festivals, attracting well-known African writers and a wide international audience.
The Africa Writes festival, which began in the UK in 2012, is now the country’s largest event for modern African writing. The British Library in London hosts it annually, bringing together writers from Africa and the diaspora. Paris, France hosts the African Book Fair, while Nantes hosts the African Literatures Festival. In October 2025, the festival will mark its tenth year.
These efforts in Europe demonstrate that African literature is gaining popularity around the world and that people desire to read African stories in their native vernacular.
The Sharjah Festival of African Literature (SFAL) is part of a global movement with an Arab twist which allows Sharjah to reach more individuals in the region with African literature while also strengthening the idea that literature is a universal language.
About the Author
