The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature has announced its line-up of authors for the 2021 edition which includes inspiring activist and youngest Nobel Prize laureate Malala.
Featuring a mix of live appearances and virtual sessions, the 2021 event will embrace literature, art, science, current affairs, film, food and performance as part of its programme.
Several sessions will also be livestreamed for those who are unable to attend or miss out on tickets.
Malala will take to the stage to talk about her story, her mission and her vision for the future while Elif Shafak, one of the most influential novel writers, will be exploring her writing and the importance of bridging the gap between the East and West.
Among other top speakers will be the internationally acclaimed author and journalist Amin Maalouf, who will discuss his timely work Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way, and examine recent history, the reasons why civilisations have drifted apart and how this impacts global threats.
Jameel Arts Centre will be kicking off the festival extravaganza on January 29 with a programme that includes Booker-nominated novelist Avni Doshi.
Jameel Arts Centre
The closing event at Alserkal Avenue on February 13 will feature the performance poets Lemn Sissay, Afra Atiq, and award-winning Palestinian actor and writer Dana Dajani. Acclaimed Egyptian writer Ahmed Mourad will also be appearing.
The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority’s Spotlight on Emirati Talent will feature Hala Badri, director general of Dubai Culture, on developing Dubai as a creative hub, and a discussion between Badri and Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri on the proposed Golden Visa for creatives.
The festival will also welcome two literary greats from the UAE, Abdul Ghaffar Hussain and Mohammed Al Murr, vice chairman of the National Archives, in a wide ranging conversation while Avni Doshi, whose debut novel Burnt Sugar was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, will appear at the InterContinental with another novelist whose debut work has received international acclaim.
Derek Owusu, a British author of Ghanaian descent, won the Desmond Elliot Prize for That Reminds Me (the first novel published by Stormzy’s #Merky Books). They will be comparing notes on their writing journeys in this session, which will be livestreamed to the Bergen International Literary Festival in Norway.
Despite the current travel restrictions affecting some countries, the programme remains international with insights into Korean literature and cinema by Immanuel Kim, the translator of Friend by Paek Nam-nyong, one of North Korea’s most popular writers, and the only “state-sanctioned” novel to receive an English translation.
The festival is a fierce champion of locally based writers and this year is introducing a new feature, the LitFest Launchpad, giving UAE-based authors a chance to launch their latest book to audiences.
Due to social distancing, there will be fewer tickets available for every session, so early booking is recommended. Tickets will be required for each session, including free sessions, to ensure visitor number restrictions are adhered to.
Organisers said the festival will be fully compliant with all Covid-19 prevention regulations and guidelines. Observing social distancing measures across all three venues will be paramount, along with Covid regulations such as mandatory masks and temperature checks.
Other highlights include:
* The Nigerian-British writer Oyinkan Braithwaite will be in Dubai to talk about her smash-hit novel My Sister the Serial Killer, which was shortlisted for numerous international awards and won the 2019 LA Times Award for Best Crime Thriller.
* Author and screenwriter Satyarth Nayak will be celebrating the phenomenon of Bollywood star Sridevi: The Eternal Screen Goddess, hailed as the first pan-Indian female superstar who empowered a whole generation of audiences.
* Bolu Babalola, a London-based author and pop culture writer and commentator, will be taking part in the Two Truths and a Lie panel discussion on the delicate balance between fact and fiction.
* The programme also features the hugely popular Emirati singer Arqam Al Abri, who’ll be bringing his own brand of soul to the Festival.
* Psychologist, philosopher, sailor and navigator David Barrie will be joining the festival virtually to reveal the wonders of animal navigation.
* Consultant paediatric neurosurgeon Jay Jayamohan, the star of BBC’s Brain Doctors and Children’s Craniofacial Surgery, will be discussing the challenges of life and death decision-making.
* Dr Rupy Aujla, founder of The Doctor’s Kitchen and author of bestselling books The Doctor’s Kitchen and Eat to Beat Illness, will be promoting the medicinal benefits of eating well.
* Wellness writer and social media activist Talal Al Buhairi will be discussing acceptance of others and a range of social topics which he examines in his book, We Will Stay Here.
* Behavioural specialist, leadership coach and author Thomas Erikson, author of the runaway bestseller Surrounded by Idiots, will be giving insights into how we can communicate more effectively with our colleagues.
* Bringing her knowledge of how to make companies smarter and faster is Victoria Montgomery Brown, co-founder and CEO of one of the world’s leading digital media knowledge companies, Big Think. She’ll be expanding on some of the strategies she shares in her book, Digital Goddess: The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur.
* In a year which has seen dramatic changes to the world of business, Dubai-based Andy Fieldhouse, author of Amazon bestseller Getting Teamwork Right, and Mimi Nicklin, empathy advocate and the internationally bestselling author of Softening the Edge, explain how to adapt to the new working environment and build more empathetic cooperative workplaces.
* Fiction from the Arab world features two Egyptian novelists who have had work longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction Prize. Hisham El Kheshen, author of the best-selling novel Graphite, is at the festival with his latest novel Lebon’s Friendship and Egyptian novelist Rasha Adly, who has been longlisted twice for IPAF, with her most recent book, On the Edge of the Night. Kuwaiti writer Abdullah Al Busais will be in conversation, discussing psychology and philosophy within fiction, and the impact of conflict on character.
* Habib Al Mulla, one of the UAE’s most renowned legal personalities, will give a glimpse of different attitudes to cuisine with his book My Journey to the World of Restaurants.
* Poetry is always a hugely popular part of the festival and this year will be no exception with performances by Amal Al Sahlawi, Shamma Al Bastaki, and Zeina Hashem Beck.
* Top young adult author Ali Sparkes will be in Dubai, as will Sam Copeland, the author of the phenomenally popular Charlie Changes Into a Chicken. Ben Bailey Smith, aka Doc Brown, a British actor, rapper, comedian and screenwriter, and creator of the BAFTA-nominated CBBC comedy 4 O’Clock Club, will also feature, as will award-winning scientist Isabel Thomas.
* Festival favourite Julia Johnson will be bringing her latest book The Pearl Diver’s Son, as will Syrian writer and director Obada Takla, who has published many stories for children, Sanaa Chabbani, a Lebanese writer for children and young adults, along with young adult writer Zayed AlMarzooqi and Ameera BuKadra, an Emirati author.
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