Feminist Writing Shapes Cultural Memory At Sharjah Festival Of African Literature

The 2026 Sharjah Festival of African Literature examined how feminist writing records change and memory in societies across the UAE and Africa. Speakers stressed that women’s literature now plays a stronger public role, turning personal experience into texts that shape cultural awareness, reach wider audiences, and influence debates about identity and social transformation.

Participants also underlined that women’s literary voices in both regions expanded through education, translation, and publishing support. Awards and critical recognition helped move work by women writers from private circles into the mainstream. This evolution strengthened the visibility of women’s experiences in Arabic and African literary fields, while opening more cross-cultural dialogue on memory and heritage.

These issues were discussed during a panel titled "Feminist Writing and Preserving Memory" at the 2026 Sharjah Festival of African Literature. Emirati writer Nadia Al Najjar and Rwandan writer Scholastique Mukasonga spoke on the panel, moderated by journalist Alya Al Mansouri, within the Sharjah Book Authority’s cultural programme at University City, Sharjah, held under the theme "In the Footsteps of Africa."

Nadia Al Najjar explained that literature, and feminist writing in particular, shows how societies differ across eras and locations, as every writer presents a distinct voice. Al Najjar pointed to the stronger presence of Emirati women in novels and short stories, many of which gained recognition in Arab literary prizes, while also noting challenges linked to consistency, readership, and creative freedom.

Scholastique Mukasonga discussed African women’s writing as a result of long cultural shifts and self-driven learning. According to Mukasonga, many women first wrote privately, then shifted to literary forms that document their lives and communities. Historically, African women guarded collective memory through oral storytelling, a responsibility now extended into written literature with wider circulation and global reach.

The festival programme also included a multilingual poetry event titled "Poems Without Borders," featuring Emirati and African poets Lemin Sisay, Sheikha Al Mutairi, Ayalneh Mulatu Abiji, and Mwanasha Mohamed Omar. Their readings addressed migration, roots, and imagination, building a shared poetic space where experiences, memories, and feelings intersected across cultures within the broader framework of the Sharjah Festival of African Literature.

With inputs from WAM