Emirates Airline Festival Of Literature Draws To A Triumphant Close

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (29 January-13 February) drew to a close today following three exceptional weekends with live and virtual appearances and sold-out sessions from Nobel prize winner Malala,ElifShafak, andLemnSissay. Programme highlights also included internationally acclaimed authors and Booker nominees Avni Doshi (Burnt Sugar) and Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister the Serial Killer), behavioural specialist and author Thomas Erikson, and a dedicated day to Emirati talent.

For the first time the Festival took place across three weekends and three venues – Jameel Arts Centre (29-30 January), the big middle weekend at the Festival’s home, the InterContinental Dubai Festival City (4-6 February) and Alserkal Avenue (12-13 February). The Festival has been praised for enabling so many events to be enjoyed live, in a safe and socially distant way. The Festival’s digital ticket, giving access to more than a dozen live streamed sessions including Malala, Amin Maalouf,and ElifShafak, also proved to be a popular choice, and a dedicated creative partnership link enabled creative professionals from as far afield as Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait and the USA to view the sessions.

AhlamBolooki, Director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, said: “We are so grateful to everyone who made this Festival happen, against all odds. Over three weeks, we have seen a wonderful celebration of stories in all their iterations and art forms, and we have rejoiced in the strong sense of community coming together. It has been a Festival full of creativity, inspiring conversations, and awe-inspiring speakers, providing much needed nourishment for our hearts and minds.”

The ‘Spotlight on Emirati talent’ day included a discussion between HE Hala Badriand HE Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri on the UAE’s ‘Cultural Visa’ for creatives. HENoura Al Kaabispoke on a panel about the future of the Arabic language.

A highlight was the celebration of the new children’s books from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as well as the launch of the book celebrating the first regional winners of Voices of Future Generationsentitled Young Voices of Arabia.

Booker-nominated novelist Avni Doshi compared noteswithDerek Owusu on their critically acclaimed writing debuts in ‘Literary Fiction – On the Edge’which was livestreamed to the Bergen International Literary Festival in Norway as part of their ‘Literature Live Around the World’ segment. This extravaganza, showcasing 12 leading international literary events, was available to view worldwide, including at the Festival in Dubai.

Highlights of the final weekend included HE Omar Ghobash, LemnSissay in conversation, and an inspiring festival finale celebrating poetry, with Dana Dajani, LemnSissay, AfraAtiq, Danabelle Gutierrez and Zeina Hashem Beck. The Alserkal Avenue community joined in with their own creative activations and events that celebrated the power of stories in all their forms. These included Gulf Photo Plus’ panel about self-publishing photobooks, Short+Sweet Theatre 2021 with its Shakespeare week at The Junction, Wisdom Warehouse’s many creative writing workshops, and acrylic and water colour technique workshops at Thejamjar, and more.

The adult winner of the Montegrappa Letter Writing Prize (English) were Katherine Rich, who took first place with ‘A Message to Gabo’. The runners up were Teejay Button with a letter to the ‘Big Monster’ character in Giles Andreae’s I love you Little Monster, and Maria Vincent with her letter, ‘Thank You, Santiago’.

Benjamin Crosslandwas announced as the winner of the Emirates LitFest Writing Prize for unpublished novelists.

A Students’Edition of the Festival, featuring exclusive sessions from Ali Sparkes, Isabel Thomas, Julia Johnson, amongst others, is available to view from 7-25 February 2021 for schools that have registered to participate.

The organiser of the Festival extends its thanks to the many other organisations that also play an important role as supporters and sponsors of the event.

Title Sponsor: Emirates

Founding Partner: Dubai Culture and Arts Authority

Sponsors and partners: Dubai Duty-Free, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Emirates NBD, du, Investment Corporation of Dubai, Zabeel Ladies Club, Voices of Future Generations for the Middle East Region, Roots & Shoots UAE, Dubai Tourism, US Consulate, Costa, Oxford University Press, Montegrappa, The Executive Council, Dubai World Trade Centre, Mohammed Bin Rashid University Of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai Immigration, Gulf News, Expat Woman, Zee TV, Zee Aflam, WION, Al Bayan, Emarat Al Youm, Dubai Post, Motivate Media Group, InterContinental Dubai Festival City, Alserkal Avenue, Art Jameel, Magrudy’s, Ministry of Culture and Youth, Ministry of Education, Careem, Dubai Police, Abu Dhabi Legal Translation Center, Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK), Elmo, 3DB, Prolab, Scriptor, Apex.

Authors include:

Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin, AbdulsalamHaykal, Dr.AfraAtiq, Afra Mahmood, Major Ali Al Suwaidi, Ali Bin Tamim, Ali Sparkes, Alia Al Shams, Allison K Williams, AmeeraBuKadra, Amin Maalouf, Andy Fieldhouse, Annabel Kantaria, Arqam, Arthur de Oliveira, Ashley Green,AsmaaSeddiq Al-Mutawa, AvniDoshi,Bashayer Arif, Ben Bailey Smith, BoluBabalola, CamilKaram, Clare Mackintosh, Dana Dajani, Danabelle Gutierrez, Derek Owusu, Ebtisam Al-Beiti, Edward Brooke-Hitching, ElifShafak,Fatima Albreiki,Ghaith Hassan Alhosani, Dr Habib Al Mulla, Hafsa Lodi, HE HalaBadri, Hamad Al Hammadi, Heather Grace, Hisham El Kheshen, HouriyaAltaheri, Huda Hamed, Immanuel Kim,  Isabel Thomas, Jay JayamohanJessica Jarlvi, Johannes Els, Jojo Chappell, Julia Johnson, LemnSissay,Luigi Bonomi, Maitha Al Khayat, Malala Yousafzai, Mark Fiddes, Max of Arabia,Michael Lynes, Mimi Nicklin,HE Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri,HE Mohammed Al Murr,Mohammed Al Marzooqi,Mounir El Hayek,NafeaAlyasi,Nasser Iraq, Obada Takla, HE Omar SaifGhobash, Oyinkan Braithwaite, PadminiSankar,Priyanka Pradhan, RanganathSubramoney, Rehan Khan,Dr RupyAujla,Saba Karim Khan,Sam Copeland,Sanaa Chabbani,Sarah Almehairi, SatyarthNayak, SavAkyüz,Selim Batt, Sultan Al Ameemi,Talal Salim Alsaabri, TalebAlrefaei, Thomas Erikson, Victoria Montgomery Brown, Walaa Kamal,ZayedAlMarzooqi, Zeina Hashem Beck,Ziauddin Yousafzai.

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will return in 2022.

You can also tune in to the Foundation’s two podcasts; the Best of the Emirates LitFest, and the Boundless Book Club.