This World Book Day, attention turns to Shamma Al Bastaki, an Emirati writer whose work captures the nuances of culture, memory, and identity with quiet precision. With an academic background spanning Harvard University and New York University Abu Dhabi, her practice moves fluidly between poetry, oral history, and visual art, creating a layered approach to storytelling.

Her debut collection, House to House, offers a lyrical exploration of life along Dubai Creek, tracing the lived experiences of communities from the 1940s to the 1980s. Through multilingual poems and fragments of oral histories, the work preserves voices and everyday moments that might otherwise fade, transforming them into a poetic archive of a city in transition.

Al Bastaki’s writing stands out for its ability to connect the personal with the collective. Her work does not simply document the past, it reimagines it, allowing readers to engage with memory as something living and evolving.

As a rising voice in the region’s literary landscape, she is helping to shape how stories of place and belonging are told today, bringing Emirati narratives to the forefront with clarity, depth, and intention.