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Don’t miss: Star-studded Hay Festival in Abu Dhabi next month

Abu Dhabi - It will also contribute to the growing status of the UAE as a flourishing cultural hub.

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The four-day run of the first Hay Festival Abu Dhabi next month promises to be a big, must-see event, considering the world-famous writers and thinkers packed in its line-up.
Legendary poet Syrian poet Adonis, Oman's award-winning novelist Jokha Alharthi, and Nigerian Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka are among the several literary superstars who will be coming to the Capital, organisers revealed on Wednesday.
Supported by the Ministry of Tolerance, Hay Festival Abu Dhabi will roll out an international programme spanning nearly 100 events as it runs from February 25 to 28.
The festival - which has been known for bringing together writers and thinkers from different cultures, languages and all walks of life since 1987 - will highlight the latest ideas in the arts, sciences and current affairs this year. And more than 20 nationalities and seven languages will be represented.
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance, said: "The Hay Festival Abu Dhabi will be an important celebration of tolerance and cultural exchange. It will help in our quest in the UAE to build positive relationships with others. It will also contribute to the growing status of the UAE as a flourishing cultural hub and an important global center for cultural exchange."
A unique four-day celebration will feature agenda-setting conversations from some of the world's finest writers and liveliest minds, addressing the world as it is and as it might be. Key figures from the Middle East, North Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, China, Nigeria and Europe will be flying in for the event.
Film screenings will reflect current social and political situations in the Arab world, while live performances of music and poetry will open and close the festival. Entry to the site is free.
A distinct programme will also welcome over 70 local schools, inspiring and entertaining thousands of local students in Arabic, English, Hindi and Filipino.
Peter Florence, Hay Festival director, said: "Our programme for the first Hay Festival Abu Dhabi brings together some of the most eminent voices in the region, and the world. We have four nights and four days to engage in conversation, to meet and dream, share stories and imagine the world.
"I believe this is the most exciting time in living memory for contemporary Arabic Literature, and the festival will be a showcase for great writing from across the Arab world, a platform for inspiring voices from many languages, and a meeting place where the world of tomorrow might be shaped."
Hay Festival Abu Dhabi joins the global family of festivals and forums programmed by the Hay Festival in more than 30 locations worldwide.

What to look forward to

>90th birthday gala for Syrian poet Adonis
Features: Adonis, with fellow poets Volker Braun, Zuleikha Aburisha, Pierre Joris, Serge Pey and Yang Lian. Other poets who will be reading their work include India's Tishani Doshi, Bahrain's Qassim Haddad, and Inua Ellams from the UK
>Talks on the power of fiction
Features: Nigerian Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka, Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, Filipino writer Miguel Syjuco, Pakistan's Fatima Bhutto, Hoda Barakat from Lebanon, and two 2019 Booker Prize winners, Omani novelist Jokha Alharthi, and British writer Bernardine Evaristo
>Conversations on the past and future of Arabic literature
Featuring: Ahmed El Shamsy on how print culture transformed Islamic intellectual tradition, and representatives from various notable literary organisations in the UAE
>Enlightening historical insights
Features: Historians who will put some of the biggest issues of our time into context as Bettany Hughes discusses the rebuilding of Syrian heritage, Peter Frankopan talks about new silk roads, Jung Chang tells a gripping tale of life and power in 20th Century China, Shashi Tharoor discusses his Hindu identity and William Dalrymple talks about the British in India.
>Demystifying science and math
Features: French physicist Christophe Galfard who will discuss space, time and beyond; Palestinian medical doctor Izzeldin Abulaish who will address the link between health and peace; Oxford professor Marcus du Sautoy who will talk about geometry and number mysteries
>Stressing the need to go green
Features: Discussing global responses to the climate emergency will be Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, director of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi. Award-winning garden designer Kamelia Zaal shares her knowledge of regional plant life in the creation of some of the UAE's most celebrated gardens
Save the date
What: Hay Festival Abu Dhabi
When: February 25 to 28
Where: Manarat al Saadiyat
reporters@khaleejtimes.com