A roster of more than 90 authors has been announced for the 2021 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, scheduled for three weekends in both physical and digital formats.
The Emirates Festival of Literature 2021 site quickly directs visitors to information about coronavirus safety protocols in what is to be a physical-and-digital iteration in February. Image: EAFL
Clark: ‘Influential Voices’
Among many developments during the ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the United Arab Emirates’ interest in staging large physical book events despite the pathogen’s spread has been interesting.
Publishing Perspectives readers looked on, for example, as Ahmed Al Ameri’s Sharjah Book Authority staged its 11-day 2020 Sharjah International Book Fair in November, with a reported 382,000 visitors to the Sharjah Expo Center. The Sharjah program coupled this with a battery of online events that organizers said drew 63,500 attendees. Needless to say, this was a boon to the Gulf region
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Dubai: For the first time, the forthcoming annual Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will have a mix of virtual and in-person sessions, fewer seats and multiple locations because of the COVID-19 pandemic, organisers said on Tuesday.
There will be no book signing events, with pre-signed copies of books instead available for purchase. Also, the award ceremonies will not be held at the event, such as the education awards, which will be delayed till March, the Month of Reading. Moreover, there could be changes to which authors will physically attend the event because of the “fluid situation” regarding flights, a virtual media briefing heard on Tuesday. Another change will see visitors having to select available seats online when buying tickets, like when choosing seats on the cashier’s screen at the cinema.