My Story
My name is Nada Dahab, children’s author and translator, wondering how I got here? Keep reading…
One sunny day, I grabbed a children’s book to read, it was so bright and colorful, but the moment I opened its pages, I fell deep down into the sea of colors and words, and found myself in a beautiful, dreamy world that I never thought it ever existed, so I decided to stay there forever, reading, playing around with my pen and words, and writing stories and tales.
The Beginning
I started writing 7 years ago when my son made his first steps in reading, we began our journey together in Maktaba, the first children’s library in Doha-Qatar back then, it was 40 minutes away from our home, so we spent most of our time there, flipping page after page, reading, coloring, playing, singing, dancing, gardening, you name it, and soon it became our home.
My passion for children and literature grew bigger, so I decided to take writing for children to the next level, and that’s when I submitted my first story to one of the best publishers in the Arab world Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press, who believed in me, and transformed by words into a beautiful, bright and colorful children’s book, just like the one the that captivated me to enter this world.
But I realized that it was only the beginning of another dream, so I chased more knowledge in Children’s Education and Development by completing courses from Harvard and other universities online, then more courses and workshops in writing, until my pen and I landed in Dubai, and found myself among one of the most inspiring group of writers, in one of the most reputable writing programs Dubai International Writing Program, sponsored by one of the most reputable educational foundations in the region, Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, who made another dream of mine come true to publish my first children’s book in Arabic, then another book followed and will be out very soon with the amazing Lebanese children’s book publishers Dar Asala.
It was fascinating to explore the power of language in connecting people and building those bridges we have always heard about, I felt blessed to be bilingual and that I can translate the amazing English books to Arabic and vise versa, to bring children close together by truly accepting one another and understanding all the differences that make our world perfect for everyone, isn’t it exactly the point of literature after all?
So, don’t wait for me to come back to your world, but we will be waiting for you here, my pen and I…