At the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, children are not just reading stories – they are painting them, dreaming them, and living them, one freestyle masterpiece at a time

Sharjah, May 2, 2025

At the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF), imagination doesn’t just leap off the pages of books – it now spills vibrantly onto giant canvases, thanks to the dedicated ‘freestyle painting’ studio that’s a permanent space at the Sharjah Children’s Illustration Exhibition.

Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival sees children reimagine superheroes, dragons, and fantasy characters in a hands-on comic mask workshop blending art, craft, and storytelling

Sharjah, May 2, 2025

Young comic lovers swapped pens for paintbrushes at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2025), transforming blank wooden blocks into vibrant cartoon-inspired faces as part of a creative “Wooden Comic” workshop on innovative art and craft.

At the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, authors, educators and storytellers
discussed how reading fosters talent, self-expression, and resilience in children

Sharjah, May 2, 2025

In a powerful and wide-ranging discussion at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF) 2025, international authors, academics, and publishing professionals explored how reading can reveal children’s hidden talents and help them navigate the complexity of identity, culture, emotion, and ambition.