Poet and novelist Lang Leav to join Sharjah's free virtual book club

The contemporary writer will answer questions from fans during the live session

Novelist and poet Lang Leav will be a guest at the Sharjah virtual book club on Thursday, July 23. Courtesy Sharjah Book Authority

Contemporary novelist and poet Lang Leav is the latest guest to be announced for the Sharjah Book Authority's virtual book club.

The free-to-attend live session will be moderated by Emirati poet Dr Afra Atiq and be hosted via Zoom at 7pm on Thursday, July 23. It will also live streamed on the Sharjah Book Authority's Facebook and Instagram pages where fans will be able to send in questions during the event.

Lang rose to fame in 2012, when she started sharing her poetry on Tumblr. She found success by reaching an audience who were eager for her short musings on topics such as love and loss, self-awareness and feminism. Her work would often go viral with many users sharing it on the platform.

She eventually turned individual poems into book deals, releasing titles such as Love & Misadventure, Love Looks Pretty on You, and The Universe of Us. In 2017, she released her first debut novel called Sad Girls, and followed that up with 2019's Poemsia.

The 36-year-old is no stranger to the UAE, having made an appearance at the 2017 Sharjah Book Fair. In an interview with The National ahead of the event, she spoke about the power of social media, which helped her find success as a writer and encouraged others to also try to find their own voice.

"It's pretty amazing," she said at the time. "Each generation cultivates a language all of their own, and it's meant to be exclusive. So, if you want to get into that world, you have to speak their language – not least because now you're competing with gaming, Netflix and so on."

The Sharjah virtual book club events are to be held fortnightly with the free sessions connecting UAE book lovers with regional and international guest authors behind featured works.