Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2020

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is returning for 2020 in February. This time, the event will be an exciting five-day programme, held from Tuesday, February 4 to Sunday February 9, 2020 at InterContinental Festival City.

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is held under the flagship of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) and under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Now in its 12th edition, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word. The overall theme for the show is Tomorrow and will delve on topics like sustainability, spirituality and kindness.

This homegrown festival will feature a programme that will host more than 130 sought-after international and local authors over the course of five days. It aims to bring together people of all ages and backgrounds from all around the world to promote the love of reading, writing and great conversation.

Ziauddin Yousafzai, father of youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Malala, will be present at the Lit Fest with his wife, Toor Pekai Yousafzai to discuss his memoir Let Her Fly – a moving account of fatherhood and his lifelong fight for equality.

You will also hear from Adam David Rutherford, British geneticist, author, and broadcaster, as he will also be at the Lit Fest with his new book How to Argue with a Racist. He will be explaining how science and history can be powerful allies against racism.

Major Hazza Al Mansoori, the UAE’s first astronaut will be sharing his experience and mission on board the International Space Station (ISS). He will be joined by fellow Emirati astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi and Salem AlMarri, Head of the UAE Astronaut Programme at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre.

A few of the award-winning authors who will attend include novelists from the region like Omani author Jokha Alharthi whose book, Celestial Bodies, won the 2019 Man Booker International Prize. Saudi Arabian writer Omaima Alkhamis meanwhile won the 2018 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for her novel Voyage of the Cranes in the Cities of Aga, whereas Mohammed Hanif won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Novel for A Case of Exploding Mangoes will present his recent novel, Red Birds, at the festival.

For a more lighthearted and magical time, Dubai-based Magic Phil will be conjuring up some super colourful storytelling at the festival. There’s also plenty for the little ones as Nadiya Hussain will be returning to the festival with her latest picture book My Monster and Me – a book reassuring younger children who feel anxious.

Apart from the talks, there will also be writing workshops and masterclasses during the event that will include sessions on journalism and creative writing. For those who want to publish their novels, the Publishing Day Programme organized at the literature festival will offer networking sessions where they can learn about the publishing process and seek out opportunities that will help them along the way. First-time novelists can also submit their entries and who stand a chance to win the Montegrappa Writing Prize for adults.