Dubai: The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature concluded on Saturday following three weekends of live and virtual appearances and sold-out sessions from Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, Elif Shafak, and Lemn Sissay.
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.
Three weekends, three venues
For the first time, the Festival took place across three weekends and three venues: Jameel Arts Centre (January 29 to 30), the middle weekend at the event’s home InterContinental Dubai Festival City (February 4 to 6) and finally Alserkal Avenue (February 12 to 13). Also, the festival’s digital ticket provided access to more than a dozen live streamed sessions including Malala, Amin Maalouf, and Elif Shafak. It enabled creative professionals from as far afield as Algeria, Bahr
Friday, February 12, 2021 | 6:00 AM – 6:59 AM
A true Bergener – both proud of and spiteful about his city – is author Tomas Espedal, who has written extensively about Bergen life and rain. Author Karl Ove Knausgård lived in Bergen for many years and will read from his latest novel Morgenstjernen (The Morning Star), which is partly set in the city. On stage are also Sámi author Kathrine Nedrejord and musician Sara Marielle Gaup. The Sámi, Norway’s indigenous population, were at one time forcibly assimilated into Norwegian life, language, culture and literature, but a new generation of them is no longer either ashamed or silent about their ancestry. Hosts are TV and radio journalists Siss Vik and Mona B Riise, who will also chat with festival director Teresa Grøtan about the Literature Live Around the World programme.
Top authors, officials and creative talent to lead onsite, virtual sessions Acclaimed author Elif Shafak is among the big names at this year s Emirates Festival of Literature Image Credit: Supplied
Dubai: The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai is set for its big weekend (Thursday to Saturday) with a line-up that includes Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, acclaimed authors Elif Shafak and Amin Maalouf, and a day dedicated to Emirati talent (on Thursday), sponsored by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.
The events at the annual festival at InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City will see live sessions featuring home-grown writers, poets and experts combined with virtual appearances from international authors. Tickets for some events are already sold out, but the festival’s Dh100 digital ticket, giving access to at least 10 live streamed sessions, including Malala and Elif Shafak, means that fans can still catch the action virtuall
James Runcie and Katie Thistleton to chair BBC Short Story Award judging panel
Katie Thistleton is co-chairing the BBC Short Story Award judging panel (edpr)
Novelist James Runcie and broadcaster Katie Thistleton are to chair the judging panel for the BBC Short Story Award.
Submissions for the prize open at 9am on Thursday.
Four shortlisted authors for the award will each receive £600, while the winner will take home £15,000.
Novelist James Runcie is co-chairing the judging panel (Chris Close/PA)
Runcie, chairman of the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award judging panel, said: “We need imaginative alternatives in these dark times: stories that question and surprise and open up new worlds.