Ben East

“It was so strange,” he says. “This thing that happened to me wasn’t the launch pad for Thirteen Ways Of Looking, but in editing the stories and figuring out what they were about, I was able to use my experience. They became more ambiguous and complicated.”

When Fiona McIntosh arrives for the inaugural Australian Business Council Dubai Literary Lunch, she will do so as an increasingly popular historical-romance writer. She tells us why travel is key to her writing and how the UAE might feature in her future works.

This is a big week for Star Wars fans, as the toys, models and figures that tie in to Episode VII: The Force Awakens arrive in shops around the world – but sadly not yet in the UAE. We investigate why ‘Force Friday’ is such a big deal.

The role of women in the Arab world differs depending on location, and there are plenty of nationalities present in Sheikha Hend’s tales.

When Lilas Taha decided to follow her dream and write a novel, outwardly it was no different a process to that which countless aspiring authors have undertaken.

An Indian man in his late 40s, part martial artist, part journalist and fully committed to breaking outlandish world records such as “the most number of concrete blocks broken on the groin at once”, sets himself a new target: to have 50 baseball bats broken over his body.

Fans of the 1986 movie Top Gun are eagerly waiting for a sequel.

Dubai-born street artist Fathima Mohiuddin has created murals in New York and London, where she was recently invited as part of this year's Shubbak festival.

This age-old story - grown up woman goes back home from the big city and has her idealised view of childhood completely destroyed - is far from classic.

The two-week festival is a wealth of artistic expression from regional talent, with a focus on art, music, dance, theatre and film.

A fascinating look at the way the hijab is portrayed both inside and out of the Arab world, the UAE-produced documentary The Tainted Veil aims to open up the debate surrounding women who choose to cover themselves.

The American pop star hit headlines this week by forcing Apple into revising royalty rates on its new streaming service, making her probably the most powerful woman in music, at just 25.

Mia Alvar tells Ben East that her debut collection of short stories about Filipino expats all over the world is an attempt to provide an authentic alternative to the official narrative.