Dr. Basema Younis
Dr. Basema Younis has been a cultural advisor at the Ministry of Culture since 2006. She is a member of the Emirates Writers Union, the Culture and Science Symposium, the Emirates Coaches Association, the Arab Writers Union and several committees for judging literary works in the country.
She is the holder of a PhD in Educational Leadership specialising in talents identification and management from the British University in Dubai, University of Glasgow (2020). She has written 11 short stories, 4 novels and 16 theatrical plays. She has received several awards as a playwright and for her fiction and novels, most notably, the Emirati Creativity Award at the 2016 Sharjah International Book Fair. She also won the H.H Sheikh Dr. Sultan Al Qasimi Playwriting Competition in Sharjah and is writer of weekly articles for the Al Khaleej Newspaper and Kul Al Usra Magazine.
Q&A
Q: What is the most important next step for the UAE creative industry as a whole?
Investing in local talents, strengthening the infrastructure for creative entrepreneurship, enhancing local trademarks and supporting Emirati productions and creations in all sectors. Work more on exporting Emirati creative products.
Q: What other place in the world should the UAE be looking to for inspiration?
South Korea and Sweden are two leading countries in the creative sector nowadays.
Q: Is there one thing you would do differently if you could start your professional career again?
I don’t think so because I am fulfilling my ambitions through it.
Q: Most underappreciated role in the creative sector?
People who prepare the infrastructure for those who will work in the creative field. They have a very important role and without them it may not succeed but they are not obvious or appreciated enough.
Q: Any tips for submitting an application or succeeding in an interview?
To focus on mentioning the most important skills and talents of the person and not just educational certificates and experiences. Also to focus on important achievements that reflect these skills and talents. It is important to show desire, enthusiasm and passion in the person as well as honesty.
Q: Why is the creative field in the UAE exciting at the moment?
The creative sector in the Emirates represents an ideal image of the meaning of creativity in using modern technology and working on designing innovations that are in harmony with the unprecedented civic progress in the country, which makes every creative project unique and different from others.
Q: Essential book to read / movie to watch / artist to follow today.
I like reading the works of all the writers in the world, and I am perhaps more interested in reading the works of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, the Turkish writer Elif Shafak, the Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, and others.
Q: Most inspiring moment in your career, or person you have worked with?
The most important moments for me during my career were establishing the authoring and publishing project that includes professional publications and new publications for young creatives, communicating with young and professional writers, and developing the publications’ journey from the point of writing to the publishing stage.
Q: Do you have any quirky habits that have proved relevant to your work?
Writing stories and reading books.
Q: What was your first ever job?
Banking Officer.
Q: Did you go to university, and if so what did you study?
I hold a PhD in Educational Leadership, specialising in discovering and managing gifted students.
Q: When did you know that working in the creative sector was going to be the right fit for you?
Since I started writing at an early age, my obsession was to work in this field.
