Over 100 writers to attend Dubai literature festival

More than 100 writers have confirmed their presence for the 2016 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, said Isobel Abulhoul, CEO and trustee of the Emirates Literature Foundation and festival director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.
Organisers say monthly announcements of writers participating in the upcoming festival, which will take place from March 8 to 12 next year, will continue up until the launch in October of this year. They have released the first set of 12 writers, which has drummed up great deal of excitement among book lovers.
"The official launch of the 2016 Festival will be in October and our author list to date looks incredible," Isobel Abulhoul said.
"We are excited to have many award-winning writers and it was a challenging task to select just twelve names to share with everyone from an incredible list for 2016!" he added.
The Emirati writer Maitha Al Khayat, one of the region's favourite children's authors, who is making a return next year, is one among them.
Chris Haughton, the award-winning children's author of Oh no, George and Shh! We Have a Plan will join the illustrious line-up of children's authors. John McHugo, the Arabic linguist and author of the critically-acclaimed A Concise History of the Arabs will make his first appearance at the festival.
Renowned historian John Man and 2015 Ondaatje Prize winner, Justin Marozzi will participate in the festival.
Ann Cleeves, author of the immensely popular Vera Stanhope and Shetland crime series of books, both of which have been adapted to successful television shows, will be attending for the first time; as will Helen Dunmore, award-winning poet and writer of A Spell of Winter and The Lie; and Freya North, author of numerous novels including The Way Back Home.
The 2016 Festival will also feature Ziedan, the Egyptian scholar and author of the IPAF-winning novel Azazeel, and Hoda Barakat, Lebanese novelist and winner of the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. Science-fiction and fantasy children's author Garth Nix will also return to the festival.
Science-fiction and fantasy children's author Garth Nix will also return to the festival to talk about his recently released novella To Hold the Bridge.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com