Today on the blog, we’re delighted to welcome Miranda Beshara from Hadi Badi to tell us about their latest projects…
by Miranda Beshara
Hadi Badi is an Egyptian initiative for the promotion of children’s and young adult literature and creative learning in Arabic. With grant support from the British Council Literature Programme, Hadi Badi is implementing a reading promotion and book sharing project: developing thematic packs to bring a curated collection of Arabic books closer to their potential young readers in both Egypt and the UK. We have selected around 20 published Arabic children’s books – both original and translated from English. The books deal with three main themes (language, emotions, and identity) and cover different age groups. The pack will also include a bilingual guide (Ar/En) for book mediators, be it teachers, librarians, parents, or facilitators, on how to use the books in creative and playful learning settings with children and young adults.
We are aiming to launch the packs later this fall by piloting them in locations working with children and teens around Egypt and with Arabic-speaking communities in the UK. If you are interested in trying out the Hadi Badi Pack in your classroom, library, or community center, please reach out to the Hadi Badi team. And stay tuned for the pack reveal!
In addition to the book pack, Hadi Badi also focuses on knowledge sharing by hosting online talks with leading authors and illustrators of children’s books from the UK and Egypt. We call it the Hadi Badi KidLit Magic Makers Series. Our first talk was with Michael Rosen, renowned British children’s author and poet, about the power of rhyming in children’s picture books. Michael shared the magic of poetry with 50 participants from all over the world. Unfortunately, we couldn’t record the talk but we asked Sara Shahwan, PhD candidate at Goldsmiths University of London to write about Michael’s latest poetry collection “On the Move” and much more which we published here. Our next talk will be in October 2021 with Carly Gray who will share insights and practical tips from her work with the Book Trust, UK’s largest children’s reading charity. Follow Hadi Badi on social media @hadibadibooks for the announcement of this talk and future ones.
Hadi Badi continues to work on making connections between great books and eager readers through our book reviews, lists, interviews, articles, interactive activities, and awareness campaigns. We recently joined forces with the Egyptian Board on Books for Young People (EBBY) to publish a joint quarterly newsletter. Check out the summer issue here.
You can learn more about Hadi Badi in this EAL article and from our talk last fall hosted by Goldsmiths’ Center for Language, Culture, and Learning.
***
Miranda Beshara is a children’s author/translator and co-founder of Hadi Badi. She also teaches Arabic online to children with Kalamna. Miranda’s first book Teta and Babcia was published in Arabic by Dar Al Balsam in 2019. Miranda translates and edits from/to English, French, and Arabic. In 2020, she participated in the Antwerp University’s Children’s Literature Summer School and also received a diploma in the mediation of children’s and young adult literature from the Ecole du Livre in Montreuil, France.
worldkidlit.wordpress.com 