Overview

• Housed in the university’s faculty of arts and humanities, the centre will offer structured instruction in Arabic language, grammar and calligraphy beginning this month.
• The programme is supervised by the Sharjah Book Authority, with Tunisian scholar Prof Abdeljelil Larbi appointed to lead and host conferences, open classes, workshops, exhibitions and performances.
• Translation between Arabic and European languages is a core focus intended to expand the availability of works and scholarship.
• The Digital Joanina partnership advances from a 2024 pilot that digitised 141 works to a plan to capture more than 20 million images from 30,000 volumes over six years for preservation and global access.
• During the inauguration, Sheikh Dr Sultan presented the original Duarte Barbosa manuscript along with his commentary volume, linking Portuguese records with Gulf history.