Dubai Public Libraries Cools Off with Summer Camp

For anxious parents not knowing how to engage their children during the summer break, here’s some good news. The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has launched the inaugural Hatta Used Book Fair as part of the Dubai Public Libraries (DPL) summer camp that began on 1 August, ending on 28 August.

The DPL summer camp will give children aged between five and 15 an unforgettable experience, taking them on an exceptional journey of creativity and entertainment. The book fair, being held at the Hatta Public Library, aims to inculcate a culture of reading and sensing an innate joy of second-hand books.

Some of the highlights of the DPL camp includes Emirati artist Aisha Alhamrani’s Painting and Creativity workshop; the Travel through Art workshop that explores famous works of art including Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa; French-American artist Louise Bourgeois’ Maman, the vast steel and marble sculpture in the form of an arachnid; and the Temple of Dendur, a Roman-Egyptian temple; and interactive reading sessions with Emirati writers including Afra Mahmoud, Badriya Al Shamsi, Nadia Al-Najjar, Noura Al Khoury, and Omani author Dr. Wafa Al Shamsi.

Several creative workshops are being conducted to give children a first-hand experience in the art of creative writing; cake decorating; candle making; carpet knitting; flower arranging; perfume making; soap making; terrazzo moulding; and woodworking among others with the sole purpose to unleash their imaginations, put ideas into action, develop skills, and more importantly bring joy to their hearts.

The second-hand book fair is the perfect venue for bibliophiles to browse over 2,500 books and purchase them at a nominal cost. Books on education, finance, history, law, medicine, poetry, religion, and technology, besides story books for children and Arabic novels are all up for grabs, with price ranging between AED 2 and AED 10.