Today's Edition
WARSAW (ALETIHAD)
Emirati poet and novelist Dhaen Shahin and Polish novelist Wit Szostak explored how fiction helps societies understand memory, history, and identity during a discussion at the Warsaw International Book Fair 2026, arguing that novels do more than preserve the past, they reveal the human experiences behind it.
The discussion, titled “The Diversity of Human Experiences in Emirati and Polish Fiction”, is part of Sharjah’s Guest of Honour programme at Warsaw International Book Fair 2026, bringing together two authors whose work engages with memory, identity and history.
Opening the session, Shahin said culture remains one of the most important bridges between peoples, noting that literature and historical writing help foster dialogue between communities across geographical and cultural boundaries.
Discussing his novel One Blood, Shahin said the project required extensive research into the UAE’s social and cultural history, leading him to uncover stories and events he felt should be preserved for future generations.
While writers must remain faithful to historical realities, he argued, fiction also carries the responsibility of conveying the human dimensions of the past through narrative.
He added that novels can breathe life into documents preserved in libraries and archives, transforming historical records into lived experiences that help readers understand how people worked, lived, and navigated the realities of their time.
Turning to the development of the Emirati novel, Shahin said storytelling has long been embedded in local culture, although the printed novel emerged relatively late.
He noted that the number of Emirati novels remained limited throughout the 1980s and 1990s before the literary scene gained momentum with the publication of novels by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and expanded further during the early years of the new millennium.
He added that education, engagement with other cultures, and the growth of academic and critical discourse all contributed to this development. The increasing contribution of Emirati women writers has also enriched the literary landscape with new perspectives and experiences.
For his part, Szostak described memory as one of literature’s most enduring themes, arguing that it is not a fixed repository of the past but a creative process continually reshaped through recollection, interpretation, and storytelling.
Language itself, he said, carries the memory of successive generations, meaning every attempt to revisit the past inevitably involves reconstruction rather than simple preservation.
He added that literature does not preserve memory as a closed archive. Instead, it continually reimagines the past through narrative, allowing familiar histories to acquire new meanings for different generations of readers.
Turning to the relationship between literature and history in Poland, Szostak said contemporary writers engage with the past through documents, archives, and historical sources that require imagination and critical interpretation before they can become compelling literary narratives.
Addressing Poland’s historical experience, he argued that a mature relationship with history requires more than celebrating moments of national achievement. It also involves confronting difficult, painful, and contradictory chapters of the past, recognising that every society’s history contains both triumph and suffering.
Szostak also discussed the role of literature in challenging exclusionary forms of nationalism, arguing that memory should serve as a source of understanding rather than division. Literature, he said, reveals identities as layered, interconnected, and constantly evolving rather than fixed categories that separate people from one another.
Reflecting on the changing role of writers in the modern age, Szostak noted that literature is no longer the sole medium for storytelling in an era shaped by cinema, gaming, and digital platforms.
Nevertheless, he argued, fiction continues to offer unique insights into individuals, societies, and the human condition while addressing enduring questions of memory, identity, and belonging.
