Myra Garces-Bacsal here.

Poetry Friday consists of wonderful people (teachers, librarians, authors, poets, book lovers) from the blogosphere who are committed to sharing life-nourishing poems every Friday. It is hosted voluntarily by various people every week. As explained by Mary Lee Hahn here, it serves as “a gathering of links to posts featuring original or shared poems, or reviews of poetry books. A carnival of poetry posts. Here is an explanation that Rene LaTulippe shared on her blog, No Water River, and here is an article Susan Thomsen wrote for the Poetry Foundation.” 

A special thanks and shout-out to Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect for hosting this week. Our #UAEReads team is joining the Poetry Friday community with not just one – but two posts – today.

During our month-long college-wide reading festival last year (see here for more information), we organized a literary café session with celebrated poets here in the UAE. I have already featured the poetry of Danabelle Gutierrez here a few weeks back. I know that our #UAEReads post would not be complete without featuring the much-lauded Dr. Afra Atiq whose English poems have captured the sensibilities of people in the Emirates.

I am grateful that I found one of her poems in this collection spearheaded by the Emirates Literature Foundation:

For The Love Of Words: Eighty-Four Inspirational Voices From The Emirates Airline Festival Of Literature

Contributors: 84 Authors who were part of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature from 2009 until 2017 Foreword: HH Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Introduction by: Isobel Abulhoul Published by: Motivate Publishing (2018). ISBN: 978-1-86063-461-1.

I finished reading this book last week and was deeply fascinated by how incredibly diverse the contributors are – further evidence of how the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature succeeds in bringing the world’s brightest literary and artistic talents here in the country over the years since its inception in 2009.

I especially appreciated how some of the international authors used their contributions to this anthology to share in verse what attending the festival means to them. See for example this ode to the Emirates Literature Festival written by Jeffery Deaver, bestselling author of the Lincoln Rhyme series (I took a photo of the page from the book and edited using an app – similar to some of the other pages you will find below):

I was especially thrilled to see an illustration with a poetic caption by much-loved children’s author Maitha Al Khayat in this collection (see here for our #UAEReads interview with Maitha).

Another Dubai-based author whom we have featured for our #UAEReads curation that I found in this anthology is Julia Johnson – see my Monday reading feature of her picturebooks here. Julia’s poem is a celebration of words words words in keeping with the theme of this anthology – and which I feel may resonate with our Poetry Friday community – here are the first two parts of Writer’s Block by Julia Johnson:

UK Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy also makes her appearance in this anthology (I wish she would be invited again in future Emirates Literature Festivals), and I am sharing just a fragment from her poem The Words Of Poems that has previously been published in her book New and Collected Poems for Children:

Our featured poet for this post, however, is UAE’s esteemed contemporary Emirati poet who writes some of her poetry in English, Dr. Afra Atiq, who celebrates what it is to be a writer in love with words. I am hoping that the Poetry Friday community would find beauty in Dr. Afra’s exploration on the heart of a writer. I took photos of the pages from the book and edited using an app. Enjoy!

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About the Poet Dr. Afra Atiq:

Please click on the image to be taken to Dr. Afra Atiq’s bio via the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature webpage:

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#UAEReads strives to be reflective of the diverse demographic population that makes up the country of the United Arab Emirates (see Global Media Insight source of demographics as of 2024). Hence, we will be featuring literature coming from the major nationalities comprising the entire country: Emiratis, Pakistanis, Indians, Filipinos, Egyptians – and other nationalities who have made the UAE their home.

About the Guest Editor/Curator for March 2024 [#UAEReads]:

Myra Garces-Bacsal has served as a teacher educator for 15 years and has led several research projects on reading and social emotional learning, diverse picturebooks and teacher practices, psychology of high creatives and exceptional people, culturally responsive and inclusive education. She is a quintessential lover and creator of booklists (see her Social and Emotional Learning bookshelf here and other publications below). Myra serves as the Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies with the College of Education, UAE University. She is a self-proclaimed nerd who lives and breathes books and enjoys organizing events and festivals where fellow nerds converge and attempt to joyfully change the world.

Publications on booklists:

Garces-Bacsal, R. M., Alhosani, N. M., Elhoweris, H., Tupas, R. (2023). A diverse social and emotional learning booklist for gifted learners and advanced readers. Roeper Review, 45(1), 25-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2022.2145397

Garces-Bacsal, R. M., Alhosani, N. M., Elhoweris, H., Al Ghufli, H. T., AlOwais, N. M., Baja, E. S., & Tupas, R. (2022). Using diverse picturebooks for inclusive practices and transformative pedagogies. In M. Efstratopoulou (Ed.), Rethinking Inclusion and Transformation in Special Education (pp. 72-92). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-4680-5.ch005

Garces-Bacsal, R. M. (2021). Of grit and gumption, sass and verve: What gifted students can learn from multicultural picture book biographies. In S. R. Smith’s Handbook of giftedness and talent development in Australasian Pacific (pp. 431-453). Singapore: Springer International Handbooks of Education. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-13-3041-4_18

Garces-Bacsal, R. M. (2020). Diverse books for diverse children: Building an early childhood diverse booklist for social and emotional learning. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 22(1), 66-95. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798420901856