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Emirates Airline Festival Of Literature Launches Commemorative 10th Anniversary Book

 The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, one of the Arab World’s most beloved literary events, will be commemorating its 10th anniversary with the publication of a limited-edition book. Organisers today announced that For the Love of Words, published by Dubai-based Motivate Publishing, will be launched at the opening ceremony of the upcoming Festival, to be held from 1-10 March, 2018.

At the pre-Festival press conference, Isobel Abulhoul, OBE, CEO and Trustee of the Emirates Literature Foundation and Director of the Emirates AirlineFestival of Literature said, ‘The Festival has grown from strength to strength with each passing year and everyone involved – authors, visitors, sponsors, students, team members and volunteers – have taken away the most delightful memories. To capture the spirit of our journey over that time what better way than with a book that any book lover would treasure?’

For the Love of Words features eighty-four inspirational voices - authors, speakers, illustrators and poets - that have been a part of the Emirates AirlineFestival of Literature over the years. The anthology is a collection of articles, poems, short stories and illustrations that celebrates the love of words.

For the Love of Words will be available at the Festival venue, InterContinental, Dubai Festival City and in bookstores across the UAE.

Record Numbers for Education Programme

An integral part of the Festival every year is the Education outreach programme to schools and universities across the UAE. This year has been a triumphant success for the programme with a 15% increase in the number of entries received for the children’s competitions - Taaleem Award for poetry writing, the Oxford University Press Story Writing Competition, Chevron Readers’ Cup and Emirates NBD Poetry for All Competition for poetry performance. With more than 25,000 students taking part in the Festival last year, an even greater number is expected in 2018 to have the opportunity to meet and hear an inspirational author either at the Festival or at their schools and universities.

New to the Festival this year is the International Students Programme, in association with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), which aims to provide an exciting, diverse and inspiring three-day programme for university students from the Arab World. The programme plays a key role in the Festival’s objective to implement a cross-cultural exchange of ideas and spread knowledge through entertaining and informative sessions. The Programme is open to all graduate and undergraduate students in the Arab World studying at universities outside the UAE.

Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations, Centre, said: ‘Emirates is proud to support the 10th edition of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. The diversity of authors at the festival this year reflects the extensive global network that Emirates serves. Through this event we are connecting the people of Dubai with writers from all over the globe, whose work cuts across all ages, cultures, genres and topics. We’re proud to support this event and help an even larger audience get in touch with literary works and ideas. This is important for Dubai’s cultural landscape, and we look forward to supporting the Festival’s future development.’

Author Debuts at the Festival

Some new additions to the Festival’s anniversary edition line-up include several first-time guests to the Festival, such as Gennaro Pellicia, Costa Coffee’s ‘master of coffee’ whose tongue is insured for £10 million; he is responsible for tasting all the coffee that comes to Costa’s roastery in London. Coffee connoisseurs can look forward to Gennaro joining the ‘But First, Coffee’ panel about the history of coffee and its importance in the world.

The Festival will also be welcoming first-time speakers Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Spanish author of The Shadow of the Wind, writer Jane Hawking, whose autobiography Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen chronicled her life with renowned physicist, Stephen Hawking, and was adapted to Academy Award-nominated film, The Theory of Everything, make their Festival debuts alongside Baroness Floella Benjamin, actor, TV broadcaster and children’s author, award-winning Iraqi author of The President’s Gardens Muhsin Al-Ramli, famed Syrian writers Khaled Khalifa and Maha Hassan, Princess Diana’s biographer, Andrew Morton, recently commissioned to write the story Meghan Markle, fiancée of Prince Harry, socio-political activist and author Arun Gandhi, talking about his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and Rhianna Pratchett, best known as the video game writer for the Tomb Raider reboot.

New at the Festival

This year’s landmark event features some of the biggest names in the world of poetry, taking the stage for a truly unique performance. For the Love of Words, presented by the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, Dubai Opera, the Ministry of Tolerance and the British Council, with the support of the UK GREAT campaign, aims to explore the possibilities presented by cultural exchange between the two countries. 

As part of the UK/UAE 2017 Year of Creative Collaboration closing celebrations, this exceptional evening is a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of the best UK and UAE contemporary poets including Khalid AlBudoor, Nujoom Nasser AlGhanem, spoken word artist Afra Atiq, UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, John Agard, Imtiaz Dharker, Hussain Lootah, Roger McGough, Grace Nichols, Lemn Sissay and World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker.

 

 

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