2nd edition of Silent Book Exhibition to be held in UAE

CAIRO – 30 July 2017: The second edition of Silent Book Exhibition will kick off in the United Arab Emirates on August 1 to help refugee children to break down the barrier of language.

The eight week exhibition curated by the UAE Board of Books for Young People (IBBY) includes 54 wordless picture books, 51 of them chosen by IBBY from 18 foreign countries and 3 Arab books.

It is the first time for this kind of exhibition to be held in the region including many wordless picture books that have visual narrative power, said the President of the UAEBBY Marwa al-Aqroubi the UAEBBY.

The exhibition hosted by the Sharjah Art Foundation will be inaugurated in August allowing children, artists, designers and publishers to sweep over the world of silent books.

The exhibition aims to strengthen ‘One upon time,’ one of the initiatives of UAEBBY to construct fixed and mobile libraries for children living in regions with lots of difficulties such as social disorders, natural disasters and wars.

“The pictures language is universal and is more powerful in its communicative ability than written and spoken language. We have seen that picture books that do not include written texts give the refugees children education, make them have fun and alleviate psychological stresses they faced during their trip,” said Aqroubi.

Curated by IBB, the silent exhibition was launched in 2012 in Italy’s Lampedusa, the largest Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, for refugees from Africa and Middle East for them to have access to picture books without any texts to overcome the barrier of language.