The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word, will play host to more than 150 writers, thinkers and speakers from 25 countries next week.
Organisers of the festival, which has adopted the theme of metamorphosis, aim to bring at least 30,000 people, young and old and from all different backgrounds, together with authors “to promote education, debate and above all else, a love of reading and writing”.
Taking part at the InterContinental Hotel in Dubai Festival City from Tuesday to March 8 will be Emirati writers such as the acclaimed poet and performer Rashid Saeed Khilfan Sharar; Nasser Al Jaberi, a columnist for Al Roeya (The Vision) newspaper and the author of Falsafat Murahiq (Philosophy of a Teenager); and Mohamed Al Mazrouei, an award-winning writer, artist and cultural commentator.
International participants will include the British journalist, author and TV presenter Jeremy Paxman; the Lebanese journalist and press freedom advocate Gisele Khoury; the Egyptian novelist and political and cultural commentator Ahdaf Soueif; and Briton Joanne Harris, the author of the award-winning novel Chocolat.
Another speaker will be the Egyptian author and American University in Dubai professor Kamal Abdel-Malek, who spoke to The Review in advance of the festival.
q How would you describe the literature festival?
a [It] is an annual celebration of creativity, a carnival of innovation, a cacophony of melodious tunes rising from the inner chambers of literary souls.
Five days of celebrating the creative word and the incredible mix of wordsmiths from all walks of the literary world: poets, fiction writers, authors of children’s books, cookbooks, and a whole host of skilled moderators and high-calibre media personalities.
They all come to Dubai to show their wondrous wares and what they are hiding up their sleeves.
What will you be talking about at the festival?
I will have two sessions: one on the Arabic language and its uses in the social media entitled Arabizi and the other is a one-on-one interview with the famous Anglo-Egyptian novelist, Ahdaf Soueif.
How valuable is the festival in terms of networking?
There is something about creative words and creative wordsmiths, whenever they’re all gathered somewhere, something ought to happen.
Creativity is contagious and, as is the case with any type of contagion, it spreads through contact with others.
The festival is the great home-ground of creative words and ideas and as a writer, you need this kind of space, to present and talk, to mix and schmooze and, more importantly in my view, to listen and get inspired. Remember that genuine beauty engenders genuine beauty and one form of artistic creativity may sire another.
What are the biggest challenges in getting published here and promoting your books?
There are no great difficulties getting published. The real difficulties lie in the area of distribution and the fact that public interest in reading books, particularly Arabic books, is quite limited. The astronomical sales of books in Europe or in North America are not known here.
What can be done here in the UAE – in addition to the festival – to make it easier for writers to succeed?
I think that the creation of the International Writers’ Centre will definitely add to the resources available to writers here in Dubai and in the UAE at large.
In this way, activities will serve the mission statement of the Emirates Literature Foundation to “promote literature and to foster an environment which is favourable to writers”.
I think that an international centre for the study of Arabic language abroad is a great idea to consider; a series of lectures on Arabic language and literature, and general culture; a series of short publications on Arabic language and literature for the benefit of local and international writers.
Q: Tell me about your latest project:
Currently I am writing a new novel entitled The Maiden of Kerkennah. It is a story of love, revenge and the power of metaphors.
pmuir@thenational.ae
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Company%20profile
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Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
THE APPRENTICE
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
RESULTS
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Specs
Engine: 2-litre
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 255hp
Torque: 273Nm
Price: Dh240,000
Company%20profile
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HEY%20MERCEDES%2C%20WHAT%20CAN%20YOU%20DO%20FOR%20ME%3F
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UAE%20SQUAD
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'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
