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📚 Live from the Sharjah International Book Fair 2026 — Pulse 95's Alya Al-Nuaimi and Alyaa AlMansoori sit down with British crime novelist Vaseem Khan for one of the most entertaining and inspiring interviews of SIBF this year! From 20 years of rejection letters to baby elephants in Mumbai apartments, to cracking the James Bond universe — Vaseem Khan's story is proof that passion and persistence always win. 🐘🔫📖 --- He is the author of two award-winning crime series set in India: 📗 The Baby Ganesh Agency Series — Set in modern Mumbai, featuring Inspector Chopra, a middle-aged retiring detective who unexpectedly inherits a baby elephant. (Starting with The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra) 📘 The Malabar House Series — Set in 1950s post-independence India, featuring India's first ever female police detective, Inspector Persis Wadia. (Starting with Midnight at Malabar House) And his latest? He's joined the James Bond universe as the author of Q's very own spin-off series — beginning with Quantum of Menace! 🤵🔬 --- 🎙️ What We Talked About: ✍️ 20 Years of Rejection — And Why He Never Quit Vaseem wrote his first novel at age 17. It was rejected. He kept going. It took another 20 years, a move to India, and a decade of absorbing one of the world's most complex and vibrant cultures before his breakthrough came. "If you're passionate about something in life, you don't give it up because you don't find immediate success. Whether it's writing or playing tennis — you just keep doing it for the love of it." 🐘 The Baby Elephant That Started It All What do you do when you inherit a baby elephant and you live on the 15th floor of a Mumbai apartment tower? That absurd, beautiful question became the hook of his very first published novel — a book he never even expected to get published. 👩‍✈️ Sarla Thakral — India's First Female Pilot One of the most remarkable stories in the interview: Vaseem shares the true story of Sarla Thakral, who earned her pilot's license at just 16 years old in pre-independence India, married into a family of aviators, and lived a life so extraordinary it became one of the inspirations behind his bold female protagonist Inspector Persis Wadia. 🌍 Telling the Real Story of India "In the West, we sometimes see fiction about India — and even countries in the Middle East — that shows a mythologized version of reality rather than the real thing." Vaseem talks about his mission to bring authentic, layered, complex portrayals of India to global readers through the crime fiction genre. 💃 Why a Female Detective in 1950s India? Inspector Persis Wadia is India's first female police inspector — and Vaseem put her right into a world full of men who didn't want her to succeed. "I wanted to put one woman into that environment, because there would be conflict for her — not just solving murder mysteries, but just the conflict of all these men around her who don't want her to be there." 🤵 The James Bond Call — The Meeting That Changed Everything Ian Fleming's estate mysteriously summoned him to their central London offices. The result? Vaseem Khan became the author of the official Q spin-off series — bringing a fresh, South Asian-influenced voice to the world's most iconic spy franchise. His debut Bond novel Quantum of Menace is out now. 📚 Book Recommendations from Vaseem: • The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra – A baby elephant, a retired detective, a Mumbai mystery. Start here. • Midnight at Malabar House – 1950s India. A female detective. A murder. A nation just born. • Quantum of Menace – Q. Gadgets. Espionage. A new spin on a timeless universe. • The Promise by Damon Galgut – What Vaseem is currently reading at SIBF 2026. ✏️ His Advice for Aspiring Writers: "Write a lot — and that means finish books. Start and finish them. Because once you've finished a book, it doesn't matter how bad the first draft looks. You can come back, edit, and make it better."

Live from the Sharjah International Book Fair 2026 — Pulse 95's Alya Al-Mansoori & Ali Al-Saloomi sit down with one of the most fascinating literary figures visiting SIBF this year: American author, translator, and visual artist Daisy Rockwell. Granddaughter of the legendary American painter Norman Rockwell, Daisy has forged a remarkable path entirely her own — translating the depths of Hindi and Urdu literature into English with a sensitivity, creativity, and artistry that few can match. --- 🏆 International Booker Prize Winner In 2022, Daisy Rockwell won the prestigious International Booker Prize for her English translation of Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree — the first Hindi-language novel ever to win the award. It was a landmark moment for South Asian literature on the world stage. --- 🎙️ What We Talked About: 🎨 Art Meets Language Daisy opens up about being an author, translator, AND visual artist simultaneously — and how visual thinking, calligraphy, and the beauty of Nastaliq script (the style used in Urdu and Persian) deeply influence the way she approaches translation. 💃 "Dancing Backwards in Heels" Asked about the translator's relationship with the original author, Daisy shares her iconic analogy: the translator is like Ginger Rogers to Fred Astaire — following the choreographer's lead, but doing everything backwards, in heels. It's one of the most beautiful descriptions of translation you'll ever hear. 🧠 Growing Up a Rockwell Born into a family of artists (her father and mother were both artists alongside her grandfather Norman Rockwell), Daisy found her own escape not in painting, but in language — specifically the grammar and inner workings of foreign tongues. 📖 Why Hindi & Urdu? From Latin in childhood to Hindi and Urdu in adulthood, Daisy shares her love of grammar as an engine — the mechanical beauty of how languages work from the inside out. She even reveals that as she walks through SIBF, she's sounding out every Arabic sign she passes! 🤖 AI vs. Human Translation In a compelling exchange, Daisy makes a powerful case for the irreplaceable human touch in literary translation: "Every word has an invisible force field around it of meanings and ideas that you can't see if you're a robot." AI, she argues, will never truly understand literary expression or creativity. 📚 Book Recommendations • Saadat Hasan Manto – Short, sharp stories about the 1947 Partition of India & Pakistan; sarcastic, devastating, unforgettable • Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree (translated by Daisy) – An 80-year-old grandmother refuses to get out of bed… until she does. And wow, what happens next. • Our City That Year by Geetanjali Shree (translated by Daisy) – Her latest translation, out now 🕊️ Partition Literature & Women's Voices Daisy reflects on why she's drawn to translating women's stories rooted in the 1947 Partition — a single devastating moment in history when millions of lives were turned upside down overnight. For women especially, the burden was immense, and literature remains one of the most powerful ways to understand what they endured. --- ✨ A truly unmissable conversation for anyone who loves books, language, translation, and the magic that happens when two cultures meet on a page. 🏛️ Sharjah International Book Fair 2026 📅 November 4–15, 2026 | Expo Centre Sharjah 🌐 www.sibf.com == Listen to #Pulse95Radio in the UAE by tuning in on your radio (95.00 FM) or online on our website: www.pulse95radio.com

📚 Back LIVE from the Sharjah Expo Centre for Day 2 of the 45th Sharjah International Book Fair 2026! Alia Al Mansoori & Alia Naimi are back on the floor of SIBF 2026 for another incredible day of books, culture, food, and conversation — and Day 2 did not disappoint! --- 🎭 "Who Owns the Story?" – Panel Discussion One of the evening's most anticipated events takes place at 7:15 PM in the Intellectual Hall — a compelling panel bringing together: • Rafic Ali Ahmed – Lebanese playwright, actor & theatre director • Dr. Aliya Al Shiheb – Kuwaiti writer & visual artist • Dr. Habib Gloom – Emirati actor & academic Together, they explore a fascinating question: once a story leaves the page, who does it really belong to? The writer? The reader? The performer? 🎬📜 --- 🇴🇲 Oman in the Spotlight – Guest of Honour The Sharjah Pavilion shines a light on Oman today with a session on "Social Harmony in the Sultanate of Oman Between Civilizational Heritage and Contemporary Transformations," featuring Dr. Bader bin Saud. Children's Workshop Alert 🎨 – "My House Speaks," led by Abeer bin Khalfan, invites young visitors to create their very own stories inspired by traditional Omani heritage objects. Imagination meets history! --- 🏙️ Future Hands District – For the Little Ones (Ages 3–7) A brand-new interactive educational city at SIBF, the Future Hands District lets young children explore different professions through hands-on play — from construction to space exploration. It's where the books of tomorrow begin! 🚀🔨 --- 📖 Book of the Day: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Alia Naimi shares her deep love for this timeless classic — a book she gifted to her nephew. But behind the beloved story lies a remarkable and heartbreaking journey: The author, a French writer and pilot, crashed in the Libyan desert in 1935 and spent four days stranded in the Sahara fighting for survival. That isolation became the seed of The Little Prince, written over 27 months. Saint-Exupéry disappeared on a wartime mission on July 31, 1944 — leaving behind a story that never grows old. ✨ "What is essential is invisible to the eye." — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry --- 🌹 Omani Literature Feature: Bukhra Al Khalfan Born in Muscat in 1969, Bukhra Al Khalfan is one of Oman's most celebrated voices — a poet, novelist, and storyteller who has spent over 25 years weaving the history, struggles, and soul of Omani society into her writing. In 2014, she founded the Almani Narrative Laboratory to nurture the next generation of Omani writers. Highlighted Works: 📗 Rafarfa (2004) – Short story collection 📘 Dilshad (2021) – A biographical novel exploring 20th-century Omani history, poverty, and societal transformation, longlisted for major Arabic literary awards --- 🍽️ Culinary Corner – Where Food Meets Storytelling Food is culture. Food is memory. Food is a story on a plate. SIBF 2026 continues to celebrate culinary heritage with two incredible sessions: • Chef Kassim Raja – A journey through Pakistani spices, heritage flavours, and South Asian culinary tradition (Spice Tonight, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) • Chef Salam Dakkak – Founder of Beit Maryam, bringing the warmth and richness of Palestinian cuisine to the SIBF table 🫒🥙 --- 💌 The Most Moving Letter Ever Written Richard Feynman — Nobel Prize-winning physicist — wrote a heartbreaking letter to his late wife Arline, 16 months after her death from tuberculosis. He never sent it. It was found sealed after his own passing. "I find it hard to understand in my mind what it means to love you after you are dead... My darling wife, I do adore you. I love my wife. My wife is dead. Rich." A reminder that the most powerful stories are sometimes the ones never meant to be shared. 💔

📚 We're LIVE from the Sharjah Expo Centre on Opening Day of the 45th Sharjah International Book Fair 2026! Pulse 95's Alia Al Mansoori & Alya AlNuaimi kick off Day 1 of SIBF 2026 — and what a way to start! Broadcasting live from the floor of one of the world's greatest literary celebrations, the duo dive deep into everything that makes this year's fair unmissable. 🌟 This Year's Theme: "Made of Stories" Celebrating the timeless power of storytelling — from ancient oral traditions to modern masterpieces — SIBF 2026 explores how books shape who we are, where we come from, and how we connect across cultures and continents. 📖 45 Years of Stories — Bigger Than Ever! The 45th edition is a record-breaking affair: over 3,200 publishers and exhibitors from 126 countries, more than 1.7 million titles on display, and 1,500+ cultural, artistic, and educational events spanning 12 days (November 4–15). 🇴🇲 Guest of Honour: Oman A special spotlight shines on Omani culture this year — from celebrated authors like Jokha Alharthi (International Booker Prize winner) and Zahran Al Qasimi, to Omani poetry, heritage, and the warmth of traditional Omani Halwa. The Omani Pavilion is not to be missed! 🌏 Global Literary Stars in Sharjah Among the 106 writers, artists, and intellectuals joining from 25 countries, the hosts preview the appearance of Liu Cixin — the legendary Chinese sci-fi novelist and Hugo Award winner behind The Three-Body Problem — alongside Lebanese playwright Rafik Ali Ahmad, Sudanese novelist Najwa Barakat, Kuwaiti novelist Saud Alsanousi, Syrian author Zulfa Katouh, and many more. 🎭 More Than Books SIBF 2026 is a full cultural universe — theatre performances, live music, culinary storytelling sessions, children's interactive zones, the Poets' Corner, and translation panels bridging languages and civilisations. 📡 Tune in daily as Pulse 95 brings you the best of SIBF 2026 — author interviews, live coverage, literary discussions, and so much more. This is Day 1, and we're just getting started! 🏛️ Sharjah International Book Fair 2026 📅 November 4–15, 2026 | Expo Centre Sharjah 🌐 www.sibf.com == Listen to #Pulse95Radio in the UAE by tuning in on your radio (95.00 FM) or online on our website: www.pulse95radio.com ************************ Follow us on Social. www.facebook.com/pulse95radio www.twitter.com/pulse95radio

"Sharjah Sustainability" prize for hospitality (Category 2) recipients Coral Beach Resort Sharjah have celebrated another award for their environmental initiatives. Their GM Iftikhar Hamdani joined us on the live show at SITTF, where we discuss the importance of conservation and the steps taken to minimise landfill waste.

Mamoun Hmedan Chief Business Officer of Wego joined us on the live show from SITTF where we discussed the impact of AI and changing patterns of consumer behaviour when booking holidays.

Head of Tours at Mleiha National Park, Nirmal Rajah joins us on the live show from SITTF as we discuss the historical treasures of the destination. We learn about the adventurous excursrions on offer as well as why one should not miss out on visiting the national park.

CEO of Sharjah National Hotels joined us on the live show from SITTF 2026, where we learn about the brand's legacy and upcoming projects. With widespread development and a new property coming up in Khor Fakkan, Ian sheds light on the growing significance of the region.

Live from Sharjah International Travel and Tourism Forum, we speak to Ahmed bin Al Shaikh, Destination Development Manager at SCTDA about the popular attractions of the emirate. In this interview we also find out about some hidden gems that he as a passionate tour guide would like tourists and residents to not miss out on.

Big ideas can start at any age! We caught up with Mustafa Ahmed, student entrepreneur and founder of Debatee.com, at the Sharjah Investment Forum 2026 to discuss his journey of turning an idea into a business, creating a platform for people to debate interesting topics online and inspiring the next generation of young entrepreneurs!

Could the future of farming be powered by AI? We caught up with Laith Dwairi, CEO of Tathmeer AgriTech, at the Sharjah Investment Forum 2026 to discuss how technology is transforming agriculture, the business opportunities behind sustainable farming and how innovation could help the UAE grow more food using fewer resources!

Why is recovery becoming big business? We caught up with Harith Al Midfa, Co-Founder and CEO of Recovery Island, at the Sharjah Investment Forum 2026 to discuss his entrepreneurial journey, the business behind recovery and wellness, and the growing investment opportunities in the health and fitness industry!

Is AI going to take our jobs, or create opportunities we never imagined? We caught up with AI entrepreneur Varun Mayya at the Sharjah Investment Forum 2026 to discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming businesses, changing the way we work and shaping the future of technology!

From earning AED 1 a day at his father's jewellery shop in Sharjah to building over 30 businesses valued at more than $350 million! We caught up with Jigar Sagar, Founder of Triliv Holdings, at the Sharjah Investment Forum 2026 to discuss entrepreneurship, investment opportunities and the future of business in the UAE.

HE Khalid Al Midfa, Chairman of Sharjah Tourism joins us on the show to discuss the contribution of tourism to Sharjah's local economy. We learn about the new upcoming projects across the emirate and the opportunities they will provide to the investors.