Tickets for the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, which runs from March 1 to 9, have gone on sale – and a host of new speakers have been announced.
Ballerina and Strictly Come Dancing judge Darcey Bussell, women's rights campaigner Zainab Salbi, legendary radio DJ Tony Blackburn and women's leadership consultant Sally Helgesen are the latest names to be added to the line-up.
“The new names announced illustrate what a wide programme we have,” festival director Ahlam Bolooki said. “There really is something for everyone, from the light-hearted, amusing and entertaining, to gripping tales, insightful current affairs discussion and serious debate on what the future holds for us all.
“Many of the sessions are going to sell out quickly, so to avoid disappointment we advise everyone to get their tickets as soon as they can”.
Other speakers at the event
There are already more than 170 speakers, across four programmes, due to attend the festival, the Arab world's largest literary gathering. These include bestselling crime novelist Ian Rankin, Australian fashion designer Alannah Hill and author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World Peter Frankopan.
Jane Hawking, former wife of physicist Stephen Hawking, and author of Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, has also been confirmed. She had to cancel her scheduled appearance at last year's festival at short notice after her former husband died on March 14. Her memoir was adapted for the Academy Award-nominated film The Theory of Everything.
There is an extensive children's programme, too, featuring Tony De Saulles, illustrator of the Horrible Science series; Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series; Chitra Soundar, author of the charming stories A Dollop of Ghee and You're Safe With Me; and Emirati children's authors Asma Kalban and Maitha Al Khayat.
Ticket prices vary but start at around Dh50, while there are discounts of up to 25 per cent available if you purchase a Festival Pass.
For more information, the full line-up and to buy tickets, visit www.emirateslitfest.com
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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