With National Sports Day falling on the second Tuesday of the month, Qatar National Library is celebrating the occasion with a lineup of sports-focused events in February. These special sessions are part of a broader catalog of virtual and in-person programs scheduled throughout the month for parents, educators, researchers, budding public speakers, inquisitive young minds, and those with an interest in business, economics, and politics, among other disciplines.
Among the first events of the month is the “Children’s Linguistic Development” lecture on 2 February, which will focus on childcare and early learning. Parents, educators, and researchers will join speech pathologist Eman Darwish in an online lecture to learn about when children can be expected to utter their first words, the causes of speech delay in children and other topics related to early development.
On the same day, the online “2021 Global Economic Outlook” will provide insights on business, economic and political developments worldwide amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The lecture will be led by Agathe Demarais, Global Forecasting Director at the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The pandemic will also be the focus of the 4 February lecture “Human Development in Post-COVID Era,” which will be delivered by a lead author of the UNDP’s “Human Development Report 2020”. Held in partnership with the Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar, the UNDP and the Embassy of Sweden in Qatar, the virtual event will share expert views on the said report and how the pandemic has exposed the structural inequalities and challenges communities face across the world.
Sports will have their fair share of the spotlight in February, starting with the Library's first Sports Day Chess Tournament on 9 February. Contestants will have a chance to challenge their friends and family online and stretch those mind muscles.
On 17 February, the Library will be taking the National Sports Day celebration to the country level, with experts shedding light on the developments made to cement Qatar's position as the Asian sports capital for 2030 as part of the “Past and Future Asian Games in Qatar: Creativity Without Limitation” online session.
The month’s focus on sports is made complete with the 24 February exploratory lecture in collaboration with Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, “Sports from the World to Qatar.” During the event, audience members will not only discover the origins and history of sports around the world, but also learn how they influenced the evolution of sports in Qatar.
February’s lineup of events also covers a rich variety of topics and areas of interest. These include the 7 February online session Down Syndrome and Healthy Diet, which will coach parents on how to prevent weight gain if their children are suffering from the chromosomal condition, and three-part Public Speaking and Argumentation online workshop starting 8 February, where students will learn what constitutes good public speaking and argumentative skills.
The “Elegant Simplicity in the Age of Excess” is another event expected to draw a diverse group of attendees on 18 February. In this online talk, Satish Kumar, a veteran environmentalist, will talk about his journey of living a frugal lifestyle and explore how consumerism drives the pursuit of happiness in much of the world. He’ll also address responsible consumption and sustainable development, two topics in his latest book, Elegant Simplicity. This event is co-organized with Arab Youth Climate Movement Qatar as a part of the popular Earth Talks series.
Finally, the month will conclude with a special lecture for manuscript heritage enthusiasts around the world on 28 February. In “Marginal Texts and New Prospects in Studying Manuscripts,” Dr. Mostafa El Toubi, Head of the Research Team on Moroccan Manuscript Heritage at the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences at Ibn Zahr University in Morocco, will examine marginalia or apostils in manuscripts to help open up new prospects for many research fields and learn more about people's habits, behaviors, transactions, beliefs, mindsets, ideas, and money exchanges.
To keep the public informed, Qatar National Library will be posting and regularly updating its website and social media channels with the latest information on all of the events taking place in February 2021.
