Sharjah-based children’s publishing house Kalimat and du have announced the renewal of their year-long partnership to promote Arabic literacy among children.

The announcement was made at a press conference held at the Maraya Art Centre attended by Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, founder and CEO of Kalimat, and Hala Badri, executive vice president, brand and communications, du.

The renewal of the contract for a second year reaffirms both companies’ commitment to fostering a love of the Arabic language and literature amongst children in the UAE, a statement said.

“We have conducted workshops and coffee mornings aimed at parents and teachers to boost awareness of the importance of getting children started on reading right from an early age, and we have stepped up our campaign on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter through regular posts, tweets and retweets, which resulted in doubling our followers on both platforms in less than a year,” Sheikha Bodour said.

The original partnership agreement was signed in July 2010. With du’s support, Kalimat conducted over 36 events including the first cookery demonstration for children at the Sharjah International Book Fair 2011 based on Kalimat’s new cookbook “Lathith Jiddan”.

It has been successful in raising general awareness about the importance of reading, particularly to those children belonging to the 3 to 9 years age group, the statement said.

Kalimat is currently in the process of working on the development of a new, improved website with an e-commerce option that it hopes will have a significant impact on creating an awareness of the importance of reading in Arabic and revive interest in the Arabic language and culture. – TradeArabia News Service