KwB discusses ties with London School

Sharjah / Emirates Business

Knowledge without Borders (KwB), the Sharjah-based cultural project, has expanded its sphere of influence following a visit to the London School of Publishing (LSP). The Sharjah–based project, which functions to promote a culture of reading in the UAE and to encourage a love of books in its citizens, attended the UK capital’s premium publishing institution to discuss mutual collaboration and effective ways of enhancing their respective literary initiatives.
Attending LSP from KwB were Rashid Al Kous, General Manager of KwB and Majd Al Shehhi, Manager of ‘1001 Titles,’ an initiative by KwB. The visit included a brief given by both parties about their organisations and an exchange of information about their current and future projects. The two KwB delegates used the opportunity to explain how the organisation aimed to connect people with books and improve the calibre of the UAE’s cultural and intellectual offerings.
“Our visit to the London School of Publishing provided us with the perfect opportunity to inform an important international literary stakeholder about KwB’s mission and objectives, which intends to establish reading as a noble habit in every household in the UAE. We were able to brief our hosts about how we are raising the literary standard of the country’s citizens through our programme of establishing home libraries and filling these libraries with the best reading material across a variety of genres suitable for the whole family,” said Rashid Al Kous, General Manager of KwB.
During their visit, the KwB representatives had the opportunity to highlight its 1001 Titles project, which was started in mid-February this year. Launched under the slogan ‘Nurturing Talent to Enrich Content,’ 1001 Titles aims to cultivate the cultural and intellectual landscape in the UAE by publishing 1,001 Emirati titles in 2016 and 2017. Devised to encourage talented UAE authors to publish their works and to enhance public, school and university libraries by boosting their range of Emirati publications, the project has received approximately 200 manuscripts that are currently under review, with the drafts received a mere three months after its launch.
“KwB launched 1001 Titles to correspond with 2016 being declared the Year of Reading by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. It was also established to be in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah to support and enrich the cultural and literary sphere in Sharjah and the UAE. Our visit to the London School of Publishing enabled us to expound on this important project and to discuss areas where we can work together in a partnership that both enhances our initiatives and supports their operations,” said Majd Al Shehhi, Manager of 1001 Titles initiative.