The annual Emirates Airline Festival of Literature returns on January 21, bringing together leading authors and speakers from around the world for seven days of talks, workshops and masterclasses. Held at the InterContinental Dubai Festival City, the programme spans popular fiction, Arabic literature, poetry and non-fiction, reflecting the breadth of voices shaping contemporary storytelling.
This year’s line-up includes British crime writer Ruth Ware, whose best-selling novel The Woman in Cabin 10 was adapted into a Netflix film; American lawyer-turned-novelist Scott Turow, whose 1987 legal thriller Presumed Innocent helped define the modern courtroom genre; British Book Award winner Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of Open Water; and UK writer and illustrator Curtis Jobling, whose Wereworld series is being adapted into the Netflix animation Wolf King.
Launched in 2009, the festival has since grown into one of the UAE’s most significant cultural events, drawing international literary figures while nurturing regional voices and readers alike.
Here are some of the most memorable moments as Emirates Literature Festival returns for its 18th year.
2011: Michael Morpurgo turns a reading into a theatrical event
The acclaimed English author, best known for his children’s books, brought his beloved novel War Horse to life in a story time session that felt more like a concert than a traditional reading. Blending puppetry with live music, the event became one of the festival’s highlights, as the master storyteller captivated audiences young and old with his warmth, charm and enduring gift for storytelling.
“The way I speak to children has been very straight,” Morpurgo told The National then. “The big law in my head with children is that you never patronise them, that you always speak to them as if they are people, albeit small and have lived fewer years, but nonetheless they have a very sophisticated outlook on life.”
Morpurgo, now 82, has attended the festival several times, making his most recent appearance in 2018.
2013: Sheikh Mohammed joins writers for a desert night of storytelling
Thirteen years ago, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai – under whose patronage the literature festival is held – joined prominent Emirati and international authors and poets for Desert Stanzas, a celebration of poetry, music and performance under the stars. Held at Caravanserai in Al Aweer, it is now a signature element of the festival, and honours the ancient traditions of oral storytelling and the new voices shaping today's global poetry scene.
This year's theme is “for every grain of sand, there is a story waiting to be told”.
2017: Jo Malone reflects on reinvention, resilience and the power of smell
The British perfumer attended the event to promote her memoir Jo Malone: My Story, which recounts her journey from humble beginnings to creating a globally renowned brand. She also writes about growing up with undiagnosed dyslexia, and how her heightened sense of smell became her superpower.
Malone, who sold her eponymous brand to Estee Lauder in 1999, quit the industry in 2006 because she temporarily lost her sense of smell following a battle with breast cancer. She launched her second business, Jo Loves, in 2011.
“I talk about the struggle because that sense of reinvention is hard, but it’s not impossible,” she told The National at the event. “You have to face your most negative moments to get through it. I heard the most amazing quote the other day: a river does not cut through rock because of its power, but because of its persistence. And that describes the last three years of my life.”
2020: Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi bring space travel down to Earth
Astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati in space, attended the festival to talk about his historic 2019 trip. Joined by fellow astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and Salem Al Marri, from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, the trio shed light on the eight-day space mission on board the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft.
“I love Superman, so the ability to just float in space really brought out that child in me,” Al Mansouri said, and revealed that one of his favourite moments was sharing an Emirati meal with the other astronauts on board.
“Because of the fluid shift that comes from being in space, our sense of taste decreases slightly. And since our food has a lot of spices, the food was very delicious for them,” he said.
Both Al Mansouri and Al Neyadi, members of the UAE Air Force, underwent extensive training before the mission. While only Mansouri took part, Al Neyadi completed a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station in 2023.
2020: Jane Goodall inspires a standing ovation with stories of science and humanity
A “jolly nearly 86" years of age when she spoke at the festival in 2020, Jane Goodall, who died in October last year, was still a commanding figure who delivered a 45-minute lecture without notes to a crowd of adoring fans.
She shared stories from her inspiring life, including from six decades earlier, when she lived alongside chimpanzees in Gombe, now in Tanzania, and made ground-breaking observations that upended modern science and catapulted her to stardom. She spoke of the future and what each of us can do to save our planet. She received a standing ovation at the end, with many wiping away tears as they clapped.
2022: Dickens’ great-great-great granddaughter hosts Miss Havisham's Wedding
An author, lecturer and travel writer, Lucinda Hawksley was in town to mark the 210th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth at the festival, where she hosted an event called Miss Havisham's Wedding – inspired by his novel Great Expectations.
The “wedding”, a celebratory dinner, featured a reading of passages from the book as well as re-creations of scenes, with Hawksley providing insights into Dickens' life and the women in his stories.
2023: Brian Cox embraces his pop culture moments
Succession star Brian Cox was a special guest, sharing snippets from his 2021 memoir, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat. In the book, Cox explores his journey from working-class boy growing up in Dundee, Scotland, to a life on stage and screen, and how his role as anti-hero Logan Roy in HBO drama Succession thrust him into mainstream consciousness in 2018.
“There's a part of one that does enjoy it – it would be stupid and wrong and hypocritical of me to say I didn't enjoy the fame,” he told a full house. “But the problem is, having been relatively anonymous for so long, I do miss that thing of people not knowing who I was. I do miss it.”
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is running from January 21 to 27 at InterContinental Dubai Festival City
