The American best-selling author Jeffery Deaver hailed the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature as "without doubt the best literary festival in the world".
His comments came at the press conference held on Tuesday at the festival site, the InterContinental Hotel in Dubai's Festival City.
In Deaver's witty address, the self-described "festival aficionado" praised the festival's dynamism and international flavour.
"It is multidimensional and multicultural. Authors and attendees have come here from throughout the Middle East, South Asia, the Far East, the western hemisphere, Europe and everywhere," he said. "I would not be the least surprised if I find in the programme a session on Inuit storytelling from the Arctic and perhaps in a few years, the ins and outs of intergalactic Martian poetry."
While it was not mandatory to attend, the guest authors threw their support behind the festival by attending Tuesday morning's media conference.
As well as the official guest speakers - Deaver and the Emirati poet Nujoom Al Ghanem - the opening press conference boasted the likes of the celebrated journalist and author Abdel Bari Atwan and the award-winning poet Anil Dharker.
With the exception of Deaver, the other big name in the room was Ian Rankin. Not wanting to make a fuss, the Scottish creator of Inspector Rebus elected to sit quietly at the back and observe proceedings.
Al Ghanem, a regular guest of the festival, explained that authors value the event because of the painstaking preparation that takes place behind the scenes.
"The festival really makes the authors feel special," she said. "A lot of us are invited to the festival as early as six months before it begins. This shows the organisational level and it shows the importance they place on the authors' time by reaching out so early."
The opening night ceremony, also held at the hotel, showcased the festival's focus on children. More than 200 children from 11 schools in Dubai and Sharjah were the stars of the show, with a performance resembling the format of a cultural, evening talk show.
Hosted by a trio of students - Asma Qais, Sharan Bhatia and Habiba Alkhatib - the programme boasted guest appearances by authors Kate Adie, Philip Ardagh and Shobhaa De, as well as Deaver and Atwan.
Sitting together on a couch, the authors discussed their creative process as well as their inspirations.
"I must confess that I grew up madly in love with Elvis Presley," De said. "I am also inspired by many people, including Steven Spielberg, because he gave us dreams. He is also someone that dreamt big and I admire people like that."
Ardagh, a celebrated author of children's fiction, said the genre allows him the creativity denied to him in adult fiction.
"You have so much fun when you are writing for children," he said. "Adults tend to have some quite serious ideas in what they want to have in a book, whereas with kids, you can really go in directions that are exciting and unexpected."
Atwan addressed the festival theme of Heroes and Villains. He described how the latter were responsible for his global fame.
"According to the western criteria, two villains made me very famous," he said. "The first one was Saddam Hussein and the second was Osama bin Laden. My interviews with both of them elevated me from a humble Arab journalist to a well-recognised writer and journalist. Now, should I be thankful or grateful to them? These things just happen in life."
Deaver admitted his novels often carry a lot of blood, but nowhere near to the amount spilt in novels by his contemporaries.
"I remember having coffee with fellow crime writers and we were trying to find out what the body count was in our books," he recalled. "I don't remember who got the highest but I had a modest amount. I only killed in my 35 novels about 1,000 people. One person killed maybe 20 or 30,000, so I was quite humbled."
Deaver finished the evening with an acoustic guitar performance of a self-penned country song, titled Shadow. The subject matter of a stalker's whisperings wasn't too dissimilar from the characters explored in his novels.
The literary action kicks off in earnest with mega-selling author Jeffrey Archer, the novelist and screenwriter Lynda La Plante and Rankin appearing over the weekend, while the Italian chef Antonio Carluccio will reveal some cooking secrets in tonight's session.
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature continues until Saturday evening at the InterContinental Dubai at Festival City. Tickets cost from Dh40 and are available from www.emirateslitfest.com
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Power: 611bhp
Torque: 620Nm
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On sale: now
Janet Yellen's Firsts
- In 2014, she became the first woman to lead the US Federal Reserve
- In 1999, she became the first female chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
HAEMOGLOBIN DISORDERS EXPLAINED
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
Golden Shoe top five (as of March 1):
Harry Kane, Tottenham, Premier League, 24 goals, 48 points
Edinson Cavani, PSG, Ligue 1, 24 goals, 48 points
Ciro Immobile, Lazio, Serie A, 23 goals, 46 points
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, Premier League, 23 goals, 46 points
Lionel Messi, Barcelona, La Liga, 22 goals, 44 points
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