Kalimat Group

Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Vice President of The International Publishers Association, founded Kalimat Group to inspire and enlighten children across the world through stories. With a current catalogue of 175 titles and a network of 101 distributors in over 16 countries, the group brings high-quality publications to children around the world, thereby enhancing Sharjah’s cultural and educational identity.

Kalimat Group comprises Kalimat, an imprint for Arabic children and young adult books; Horouf, which offers integrated educational programmes in the Arabic language; Rewayat, focussing on Arabic and translated fiction and non-fiction; COMICS, which specialises in Arabic comics encompassing stories, novels and manga.

To further inspire reading, the group runs Maktaba, a literary café in Sharjah. In 2017, Kalimat signed a memorandum of understanding with French publishing house Éditions Gallimard to promote the translation of Arabic and French titles. The imprint also boasts partnerships with renowned publishing houses Quarto and Bloomsbury.

International recognition for Kalimat has come in the form of being crowned Best Publisher of the Year – Asia at the 2016 Bologna Book Fair, winning the New Horizons category of the Bologna Ragazzi Award in 2016 and scooping the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Award in the Young Author category in 2017. To promote literacy and the importance of reading to refugee children, Kalimat Group invests in public ventures and charitable projects through its non-profit arm, Kalimat Foundation.