The present book, entitled Modern Literature of the United Arab Emirates is aimed at filling the gap within academic knowledge on Emirate literature. The author hopes the current publication will bring closer to the Arab and non-Arab recipient the exceptionally interesting and original, though extremely recent, panorama of Emirati literary life. The source material dealt with has been enriched by biographical information on the authors as well as a bibliography of their works, which portrays the broad creative context of contemporary Emirati men of letters.

Barbara Michalak-Pikulska is the Head of the Arabic Department of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She obtained her Ph.D. in Arabic Literature from the Jagiellonian University in 1994, and now she is professor of Modern Arabic Literature. She has spent many years in Kuwait and other countries of the Gulf and the fruits of her studies include: Tradition and Innovation in the Works of Layla al-'Uthman (in Arabic, Beirut 1997), Thurayya al-Baqsami. Between a Brush and a Pen (in Arabic, Kuwait 1997; in English, Krakow 2009), The Contemporary Kuwaiti Short Story in Peace Time and War 1929-1995 (Krakow 1998), An Outline of Contemporary Short Story Writings of the Arabian Peninsula. Selected Problems and Source Readings (Krakow 2000), Modern Poetry and Prose of Oman 1970-2000 (Krakow 2002), Modern Poetry and Prose of Bahrain (Krakow 2006), Authority, Privacy and Public Order in Islam (ed. with A. Pikulski, Leuven-Paris-Dudley, MA 2006), Intertextuality in Modern Arabic Literature since 1967 (ed. with P. Starkey, L. Deheuvels; Durham 2006 1st ed.; Manchester 2010 2nd ed.), as well as many papers on various aspects of contemporary Arabic literature.