The Cultural Salon at Doha International Book Fair witnessed a symposium entitled “Dimensions of Adolescent Literature”, in which writer Lina Al-Aali and writer Rana Al-Haj participated, and it was moderated by writer Aisha Al-Muraikhi.
The symposium dealt with a definition of adolescent literature, and that it is a branch of literature that targets young readers in adolescence, as this type of literature deals with the issues and challenges of young people and their life experiences, and aims to guide, educate and entertain them.
The axes of the symposium revolved around the role of adolescent literature in building personality and developing skills, and how it contributes to building the personality of young people and developing their skills such as critical reading, critical thinking, creative expression and self-expression, in addition to monitoring the most prominent challenges facing adolescent literature and how to deal with them, in addition to research the future prospects for this type of literature and what it can offer to young people.
The two speakers emphasized that youth literature is an important space for expressing their thoughts, feelings and observations about the world around them.
For her part, the writer Lina Al-Aali monitored the recent developments in adolescent literature and the new literary trends that appear in it, and how adolescent literature deals with contemporary issues faced by young people such as identity, friendship, love, physical transformations, social and cultural transformations, mental health, the environment, and others.
Besides, she talked about her new publications, which were launched at the book fair, stressing that she has two series, the first is the “Keys of the Times” series, and includes stories (Al Zubarah, Ras Asherij, Pirates of Khor Hassan), while the other series bears the title “Maps of the Lost”, and includes stories (The Mystery of the Locust, The Lost Maps, Treasure Island, The Secret of the Golden Compass).
The writer, Lina Al-Aali, said that these stories focus on the most important historical areas of Qatar, in order to promote them among the Qatari children, as well as for non-Qataris, aiming behind them to strengthen the national identity.
The writer, Rana Al-Hajj, touched on the concept of young adult literature, defining its distinctive features, and the goals pursued by young adult literature, such as educating young people, guiding them, nurturing them, and encouraging them to read more creative works.
She also dealt with the cultural and social messages and values carried by adolescent literature, and how these messages can affect the cultural and social formation of youth, in addition to reviewing the diversity in adolescent literature in terms of topics, methods, and experiences, and how this diversity contributes to meeting the different needs and interests of young people.