A Bahraini author has shined a bright spotlight on the literary talent in the kingdom by recently winning an award for her latest book.
Nada Fardan bagged the Jury Prize for her 2023 release Shampoo Al-shoor Al-ajeeb (‘The Amazing Shampoo of Feelings’), a children’s story, at the seventh edition of the Sharjah Award for Gulf Women’s Creativity.
The award – presented at a grand ceremony in Sharjah in May – honours the creative achievements of Gulf women in literature, poetry and critical studies.
“This was the first year they introduced a category dedicated to children’s literature. As soon as I learned about this new category, I applied,” Ms Fardan told the GDN.
“The award’s criteria allowed submissions of works published within the past two years. I had a few stories that met the requirements, but I chose Shampoo Al-shoor Al-ajeeb because I was confident about its potential to win,” she added.
The story is set in a classroom where the teacher asks her students to draw their own invention.
The children dip into their imagination, innovating concepts like a travel capsule that can transport you to any country of the world in minutes and a robotic gardener who can plant 100 seeds in seconds.
One of the students, Ghada, decides to draw a shampoo bottle, revealing that its contents do not clean your hair but your heart. On using the shampoo, one can acquire any emotion they previously struggled with. The tale goes on to narrate how the entire class learns ‘empathy’.
Talking about her inspiration for the book, the 39-year-old architect-turned-full-time-author pointed out that ‘compassion’ is an important virtue and she hopes reading the book can imbue the quality into young minds.
“I started working on the story after I saw a television commercial for a shampoo that claimed to soften the hair,” the Sanad resident revealed, adding that it got her thinking, ‘what if there was a product that could soften the heart’.
The book, available on alnadaworkshops.com, is not the first award-winning work that the creative talent has produced.
In 2022, Ms Fardan’s Mama Ladayha Magnatees (Arabic for ‘my mom has a magnet’) bagged the reputed Rashid Bin Humaid Award for Culture and Science in the UAE, which spurred her on to launch the story as a book at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival in May last year.
The writer is passionate about children’s literature and while her journey began a decade ago, writing stories and participating in competitions, she witnessed her first milestone with Faris wa drou’oh Al-asher (‘Faris and his 10 Armours’), released in 2016.
Her other titles include Faris fi zaman Al-goos (‘Faris in the Pearling Age’), Ebtisamet Shamoosa (‘Sunny Smile’), Abaq Al-yasmeen (‘The Scent of Jasmine’), Hamama Nodi (‘Nodi the dove’) and, recently, her first English story One Trunk Away – the heartwarming tale of Harry, a young elephant, and his mother, who gently encourages him to face new challenges on his own.
The author, who discovered her love for the written word when she was still studying at school, believes that homegrown children’s stories must be adapted into plays and television shows, which will help younger generations, while also reflecting the local culture and values. However, she noted that the path isn’t free of hurdles.
“The biggest challenge has been finding a publisher. Even when one is found, the burden of publishing costs often falls entirely on the author,” Ms Fardan said. “Distribution is another major hurdle, especially in Bahrain, where publishers and bookstores do not invest much in marketing.
“Additionally, the Bahrain International Book Fair has been postponed for five years, which has made it even harder for Bahraini writers to reach Arab readers and publishers,” she added.
Despite the odds, Ms Fardan is determined to write more stories. Her latest title Manba’a Al-Jood (‘source of goodness’), published by Sharjah Heritage Institute, is available online along with her other creations.
melissa@gdnmedia.bh
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