On Emirati Women’s Day 2026, SharjahNews.ae celebrates Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi whose extraordinary leadership of Sharjah International Book Fair, American University of Sharjah, UNESCO diplomacy and entrepreneurship makes her the UAE’s most consequential leader.
By Imran Malik | Community & Culture Desk | SharjahNews.ae
Every year on August 28, the UAE pauses to honour the women who have shaped its extraordinary story. Emirati Women’s Day is not simply a celebration. It is an acknowledgement that the UAE’s transformation from a desert landscape into a global knowledge economy has been built, in significant part, on the vision, determination, and leadership of its women.
On this Emirati Women’s Day 2026, SharjahNews.ae is proud to celebrate one of the most remarkable and multidimensional leaders the UAE has produced — Her Highness Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi.
Sharjah International Book Fair — Leading the Arab World’s Greatest Literary Event
Among Sheikha Bodour’s most consequential leadership roles is her position as Chairperson of the Sharjah Book Authority, the institution that oversees the Sharjah International Book Fair, the region’s largest and most significant annual literary event held at Expo Centre Sharjah.
Under her leadership, SIBF has grown into a globally recognised platform drawing thousands of publishers, millions of book titles, and millions of visitors annually under themes that connect readers personally to the power of literature. The fair’s recent edition was held under the theme “Between You and the Book”, capturing the intimate and transformative relationship between reader and text.
Her international outreach through the Sharjah Book Authority has produced historic milestones. She made Sharjah the first Arab guest of honour at the Warsaw International Book Fair, opening new corridors for Arabic literature in Eastern Europe. She inaugurated the Sharjah Festival of African Literature, strengthening cultural bridges between the Arab world and the African continent. She launched the Sharjah Literature Festival, adding a dedicated literary gathering to Sharjah’s already remarkable cultural calendar.
The Sharjah Book Authority under her chairmanship has also overseen Sharjah’s recognition as guest of honour at the New Delhi Book Fair, Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Guadalajara International Book Fair, and Thessaloniki International Book Fair, cementing Sharjah’s position as a global centre for Arabic publishing and literary culture.
American University of Sharjah — Transforming Higher Education
Sheikha Bodour serves as President and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Sharjah, having taken the helm in January 2023 to lead strategic growth in teaching, research, and public service.
Under her presidency, AUS rose from 383rd to 332nd in the QS World University Rankings between 2022 and 2025, a measurable and meaningful institutional improvement reflecting strategic academic leadership.
Her most significant structural addition to AUS has been the launch of AUS Press, the university’s official publishing arm, announced at the Warsaw International Book Fair to advance regional scholarship and global knowledge exchange. This initiative connects AUS directly to the broader publishing ecosystem Sheikha Bodour has spent her career building.
She chairs the Advisory Council of Development and Outreach (ACDO) to align institutional goals with Sharjah’s broader socioeconomic priorities, integrating higher education with the innovation ecosystem through her parallel leadership of SPARK and Sheraa.
A UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador — The 2025 Milestone
In October 2025, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay appointed Sheikha Bodour as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Education and Book Culture, announced during the 43rd Session of the UNESCO General Conference in Paris.
The appointment recognised her decades of global work advancing publishing, literacy, and educational development across continents.
“Books shape minds, connect communities, and underpin resilient, knowledge-based societies,” she said upon accepting the role.
The BolognaRagazzi Award — First Arab Gulf Woman
In 2025, Sheikha Bodour became the first woman from an Arab Gulf state to receive the prestigious BolognaRagazzi Award at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, winning in the Fiction category for her children’s book The House of Wisdom, which chronicles the Grand Library of Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age.
Sheraa — $300 Million Raised, 2,600 Jobs Created
As Chair of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa), Sheikha Bodour has built the UAE’s first university-based startup accelerator into one of the region’s most productive entrepreneurship ecosystems.
By 2025, ventures supported through Sheraa’s incubation programmes had raised over $300 million in investment and created more than 2,600 jobs, with over half of its portfolio companies led by women.
University of Leicester’s First Honorary Professorship
In July 2025, the University of Leicester conferred upon Sheikha Bodour its inaugural Honorary Professorship, the first such title in the institution’s history, at its School of Business, recognising her contributions to women’s equality, higher education, publishing, and cultural development.
Publishing Pioneer, Heritage Guardian, Cultural Builder
Sheikha Bodour founded Kalimat Group in 2007 as the first dedicated Arabic children’s publisher in the UAE. Its Kalimat Foundation has distributed books to children in refugee camps including Syrian displacement camps in Jordan and supports visually impaired children through its Ara (I See) programme.
She led Sharjah’s successful UNESCO World Heritage nomination of the Faya Palaeolandscape and oversaw the establishment of the Mleiha Archaeological Centre. In 2024 she founded Tanweer, an annual music and arts festival in the Mleiha desert. In 2025 she opened Bait Elowal, a heritage restaurant in a restored century-old house in the Heart of Sharjah.
SharjahNews.ae Salutes Her Highness Sheikha Bodour
On Emirati Women’s Day 2026, SharjahNews.ae bows in respect and admiration to Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi. She embodies everything this day is meant to celebrate.
A daughter of Sharjah who became a global leader. A publisher who gave Arab children their stories in their own language. A chairperson who made Sharjah’s book fair the Arab world’s greatest literary event. A university president raising academic standards. A diplomat carrying Sharjah’s name to UNESCO’s highest platforms. An entrepreneur whose ventures created thousands of jobs.
She is proof that Emirati women do not simply participate in the UAE’s story. They write it.
Happy Emirati Women’s Day. From the entire SharjahNews.ae team.
— Imran Malik | Community and Culture Desk | SharjahNews.ae | MediaBites.com.pk
Picture Courtesy: Emirates Women
