Inspire, explore and educate: A look at the world of Qatari literature

Qatar is a nation with a passion for reading. There’s a wealth of books and knowledge in at least a dozen libraries and bookstores in Qatar. New initiatives are popping up around the country to inspire and entertain people of all ages, wherever they are.

One of the main pillars of Qatar’s Vision 2030 goal is reading and education. That chapter in the country’s story has been written… and who better to fulfill it, than the future generation themselves.

Helping to achieve that is Qatar Reads, a nationwide reading campaign which aims to equip each child in every stage of their life with the tools to empower their minds through books.

"The Family Reading program is a flagship program at Qatar Reads. It's the biggest one with over 1,100 kids subscribed," Nada Bahzad, Senior Program Development Officer at Qatar Reads told Euronews. 

"The main goal was to encourage them to read and to select the books that suit these age groups best. And they're engaging the most with different themes every month to keep the kids engaged. We deliver to their home, every month, a package with two books, either English, Arabic or bilingual - one of each language. We also deliver to them activity sheets and a comic based on a specific theme of every month."

The program is relatively new, but it’s already seeing positive results with long-term benefits.

"What we found is that there's a big increase in the number of children that enjoy reading. It's a daily habit. And one of the most important things to us is that it became a family activity where the parents are involved, their siblings are involved," Nada revealed. 

"So, you can see that we're involving not just the children but the entire community. And we're showing them how reading is the key, the