SFAL 2026 Spotlight On Cross-cultural Storytelling And Language In African Literature

The Sharjah Festival of African Literature returned for a second edition with discussions on language, memory, and identity. A key session, titled "Echoes of Our Tongues", examined how African and Arab literary traditions use language to protect cultural memory and connect communities across borders, generations, and changing social realities.

The panel brought together Tanzanian writer Daulat Abdalla Said and Emirati writer Salha Obaid. Both speakers explored how stories travel between spoken and written forms. They also discussed how African literature and Emirati narratives cross languages, maintain local identity, and still speak to diverse readers in the Middle East and beyond.

During the discussion, Salha Obaid traced storytelling back to oral traditions. Obaid said that human stories began as spoken narratives. Writing later emerged as a natural extension of this habit, turning voices into text while keeping strong links with memory, place, and shared cultural experience.

Obaid noted that Arabic oral storytelling developed over many centuries. The tradition built a literary heritage marked by depth, richness, and a strong expressive voice. For Obaid, this heritage remains visible in contemporary African literature and Emirati writing, where oral rhythm and metaphor still shape how stories unfold.

Obaid explained that personal work draws heavily on Emirati oral heritage. Sources include proverbs, family tales passed down by grandparents, and older words that once sat quietly in memory. These elements later reappear on the page, turning private recollection into shared text that strengthens links between generations.

Obaid said this inherited material acts as a bridge between elders and younger readers. Place-specific terms and stories help fix each text within a clear sense of belonging. Obaid’s narratives often start from family histories, then widen to include the sea, pearl diving, folk legends, and imagined worlds that shaped earlier Emirati life.

Sharjah Festival of African Literature and African literature between oral and written forms

The writer also described a strong duty towards each text from the first idea. This covers choices of setting and the portrayal of contemporary Emirati characters as extensions of earlier figures. Writing becomes a space for dialogue, asking readers to see Emirati lives in full complexity, beyond narrow or simplified images.

Daulat Abdalla Said compared this approach with oral storytelling, which takes place before a live audience. Said explained that oral tales demand constant attention to listeners’ reactions. Audience responses influence pacing and tone, so the crowd becomes part of the narrative, shaping the story’s movement as it develops in real time.

By contrast, Said described writing as a slower process that usually lacks instant feedback. However, Said pointed to digital tools that allow writers to add sound, movement, and multimedia elements. These techniques can bring written narratives closer to the energy of oral performance, an important concern for African literature and global readers.

Sharjah Festival of African Literature and African literature in Sefi Atta’s migration stories

The Sharjah Festival of African Literature also hosted a session on The Bad Immigrant by Nigerian author Sefi Atta. The book is a collection of short stories about migration, identity, and belonging. Atta’s appearance added another perspective on how African literature handles movement across borders and cultural expectations.

Through an interactive conversation with the audience, Atta discussed feelings of alienation, urban pressures, and cultural adjustment. These themes run through The Bad Immigrant and echo experiences familiar to many residents of the UAE. The discussion highlighted how African literature can reflect local African realities while still connecting with readers worldwide.

Taken together, the panels at the Sharjah Festival of African Literature showed how language carries memory, supports identity, and encourages dialogue. From Emirati oral heritage to Tanzanian performance and Nigerian migration stories, speakers underlined the continuing role of storytelling in linking past experiences with present lives and future readers.

With inputs from WAM