Last month, I was very happy that the private Egyptian school, British Columbia Canadian International School East (BCCIS), reached out to me to speak to their students during book week. Living in Seattle, I was excited to talk to and hopefully inspire Egyptian students to read and maybe write as well.

Grades 3 and 4 each voted for me to read one of my books to them – Grade 3 voted for The Lion that Dressed as a Sheep and Grade 4 for The Magic Palm – the typical requests for those age groups.

I’m thankful for the kind questions and comments and can’t wait for the opportunity to visit these schools in person again soon.

On the 1st of February, I was thrilled to be invited to speak to Grades 4-6 students at the Royal British International School in New Cairo. I read from my YA book, Melouq, and discussed how I became an author, who inspired me, and much more! Prior to this visit, I also had the pleasure of zooming with each of the classes to give a writing workshop. So nice to meet you, young royalties!

It’s so encouraging to be able to see students hard at work trying to learn despite the difficult circumstances of COVID-19. I had the pleasure of reading to Year 1 – 6 classes at the British School of Egypt yesterday Thursday May 6th, where we read my English books: Melouq, The Lion that Dressed as a Sheep, and The Magic Palm. Many important questions about writing, storytelling, and being an author were asked, and I hope that more and more people find their way into writing down their story.

Some snapshots of the sessions:

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Today was an exceptionally fun day, because despite COVID, we still managed to organize a fun school visit and virtual book fair with BCCIS East Cairo. I had a lot of fun zooming with different grades and classes. With the seniors, I gave workshop on how to become a writer in Egypt; for grades 6 and 7, I gave a workshop on how to write a story; and for grades 1-3, I read two of my books at their request.

I was amazed by the great questions, curiosity, and talent of the students. Good luck, and I hope to meet you all as authors soon!

The world is facing a critical situation in responding to the outbreak of COVID-19, so I believe that each person has to do their part to be responsible and keep the world safe.

My company, Arabic Book A Month, is proud to be have made changes to adapt to the situation and keep all of our employees and customers safe. Initially, all of our employees are working from home, and our fulfillment centers in the USA and Egypt are still operating with strict hygiene measures. All your subscription and store orders will still be delivered on time, though our events and future workshops are on hold. We have also helped donate masks to hospitals in dire need.

On a personal level, to still promote the importance of reading, I have been really happy to offer free reading sessions and LIVE FB sessions to promote the importance of reading. 

Watch the videos below:

Our founder, Dina Elabd, was so happy to visit Malvern school to read to and discuss her books with students from Pre-K to G12. She also gave Writing Workshops to the older students. Some photos below:

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Our team at Arabic Book A Month is extremely pleased with the results of our first Writer’s Workshop: How to Write a Picturebook.

Initially proposing 20 spots for the workshop, these were quickly sold out, so we decided to open 15 more spots. Hence, we had 35 participants split in two workshops: SODIC Sheikh Zayed and KMT Maadi. 

The workshop was led by author Dina Elabd, author Rania Amin, and Arabic language editor Dr. Ali Abdelazim.

Of the 35 writers who attended the workshop, 23 submitted stories. 4 stories were selected by 3 of our 6 publishers. The publishers that participated were:  Dar El Shorouk, Wafaii IHCI, Balsam, Boustany, Aliaa, and Nahdet Misr.  

A big congratulations to our newly published authors and their stories:

• فريد by Emma Greiche
• قبعة أورانجو المستحيلة by Basma Jaheen
• محشي وحشي وعو by Yosra Sultan
• شادي و الذبادي by Marwa Kasem

For those interested in learning how to write a picturebook, our booklet is available for purchase in EN and AR here.

For those interested in one-on-one book coaching with Dina Elabd, please click here.

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