The Emirates Airline Literary Festival will be held from January 29 to February 3 at InterContinental Dubai Festival City. It will feature over 150 events, including author lectures, panel discussions and performances. From sessions with renowned international writers and regional talents to talks that delve into special topics and performances that pay tribute to outstanding literary figures, reported by The National.
Coffee lovers are invited to delve into the various facets of the hot beverage with A Sip Through Time. The session, which will be held only in Arabic, will be hosted by writer and researcher Majed Alahdal, author of Diwan Al-Qahwa . He will provide an in-depth understanding of the history and identity of coffee.
Abraham Verghese, The Water Covenant
Author of the hugely successful 2009 novel Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese will take the stage to discuss his 2023 literary hit The Water Covenant. The story follows the mystery of a family in Kerala that lost a member to drowning. The story spans three generations from 1900 to 1977. Verghese will delve into this family saga at a pivotal time in Indian history.
There will be several exciting workshops and activities for children to explore during the festival. This includes a talk by Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The book series consists of 13 novels that follow the strange and chaotic lives of orphaned siblings Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. The books were adapted into a 2004 film starring Jim Carrey and more recently into a Netflix series starring Neil Patrick Harris. The handler session will be moderated by children’s author Jack Meggitt-Phillips.
Postmodern Prose
The celebrated English author Jane Austen will be celebrated 250 years after her birth, as works such as Pride and Prejudice and Pride and Sensibility still resonate with audiences today. In the Discovery Talks section, which features authors and experts exploring specialized topics, Laalin Sukhera, founder of the Jane Austen Society Menap and editor of Austenistan, will discuss the novelist’s life and legacy.
Khalid Albudur, considered one of the pioneers of the contemporary poetry movement in the UAE, will join poet, writer and editor Asmaa Azaizeh to discuss the world of postmodern Arabic poetry, from its beauty to its challenges. Albudur and Azaizeh will examine various aspects of this poetic movement, including how writers express their experiences through media.