As part of the #Arabic Book Fair held in Sharjah to celebrate the 2019 World Book Capital, Rawi Cafe hosted American writer Chris Gardner, nicknamed "Inspiring Generations," in a panel discussion on his career and creativity, during which he launched the Arabic version of his bestselling book The Pursuit of Happiness , Published by the House «novels» of the Kalimat Group, which specializes in the publication of literary works of Arabic and international translated.
The session, which was moderated by Richard Dean, dealt with Gardner's life story from his cruel childhood, his suffering as a single father who lived with his son homeless for more than a year, and the radical transformations in his life that sparked his spirit of challenge, leading to his book "The Pursuit of Happiness", which is on the list of books. Best-selling, his role as an inspiring speaker roams the world to motivate the masses.
Gardner began his speech by expressing his delight at visiting Sharjah, which he described as a 'place of peace', recalling the atmosphere of his book, which was transformed into a movie of the same name in 2006, and starred American actor Will Smith, who was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for his character.
"For me, it was important to have a certain degree of credibility in my story," Gardner said of why he devoted the most chapters to the story of his suffering and the difficult circumstances he faced during his career.
"My friend, the late American writer and poet, Maya Angelo, told me:" I feel that this book does not talk about you alone, but it talks about all of us.
“When you have the courage to talk about the difficulties you have overcome, you are contributing to changing people's lives forever, although you will never meet many of them in your life, so I was determined to be honest through this book in every way.”