Emirates Airline Festival Of Literature To Return In January

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will return for its 16^th edition with a line-up that includes some of the world’s best authors and the coolest activities.

The tickets for the festival, which will take place from Monday January 31 to Wednesday February 6, will be available on Thursday December 14.

Among those in the line-up are Miral Al-Tahawy, whose novel Tales from Town of Rising Sun was shortlisted for the 2023 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and Saud Alsanousi, who won the 2013 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel The Bamboo Stalk. He was also nominated for the 2017 Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Pigeons of the House.

Behavioural expert Thomas Erikson, author of the bestselling book Surrounded By Idiots, will be returning to the fest as will journalist, novelist, and Stephen Hawking’s daughter, Lucy Hawking, who will be speaking about Princess Olivia Investigates, her brand new series of children’s fiction about climate change.

Others on the roster include Claudia Rankine, American poet, essayist and playwright, who won the 2015 Foreward Prize; father of the iPod and founder of Nest, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tony Fadell, who authored Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making; BookTok sensations Curtis Sittenfeld, author of Romantic Comedy, and Rebecca Yarros, author of Fourth Wing; award-winning translator Anton Hur, best-known for his Korean to English translation of I Went to See My Father, Cursed Bunny and for his upcoming biography of k-pop sensation BTS.

Researcher and lecturer Francesca Cartier Brickell, who has written The Cartiers: The Untold Story of a Jewelry Dynasty, and award-winning poet and finalist of ‘Prince of Poets’ TV show Ahmed Bakheet are also coming. As is Zahra Lari, the first figure skater from the UAE to compete on a global level. She will be launching children’s book Not Yet: The Story of an Unstoppable Skater at the festival.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi, author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold book series; poet Ali Abu Al Reesh, whose novel The Confession is considered one of the top hundred most important Arabic novels of the century, and award-winning Palestinian writer and performer, Dana Dajani round out the list.

While the speaker presentations will take place throughout the week, organisers have something special planned for the weekend. From Thursday to Sunday, there’ll be something to engage every member of the family, from performances to games, activities and food.

The whole family can also enjoy Discovery Talks, a series of free-to-attend talks on everything from the Spiderverse to artificial intelligence.

The LitFest Families section will have children’s storytellers and illustrators from around the world and this year, there’s a special Youth Day, with events covering themes from literature to business and sustainability, all with a focus on Arabic culture.

Ticket price TBC. Mon Jan 31 – Wed Feb 6 2024. Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.