Festival of Literature 2011: Line-up revealed

Dubai: As the final page is turned and another triumphant Emirates Airline Festival of Literature comes to a close, the organisers have revealed that preparations are well underway for the 2011 Festival.

18 star authors have already confirmed participation in next year’s Festival, which will run from 8-12 March, 2011. The Festival is held under the patronage of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, the Emirate’s dedicated authority for culture, the arts and heritage.

More than twenty five thousand enthusiastic Festival-goers rubbed shoulders with 107 international, regional and local authors over the four-day Festival. Demand for many of the 80 sessions was so great that the organisers had to release additional tickets at short notice.

“From the moment the doors opened on Wednesday morning, the atmosphere has been electric,” said Isobel Abulhoul, Festival Director. “We have witnessed some incredible sights - Darren Shan signing books for star-struck teenagers for more than 4 hours, queues of hundreds of fans snaking through the Event Centre Lobby for the sold-out John Simpson session and multitudes of children from different nationalities joining camels, horses and Freej characters for our noisy and colourful Fringe parade.”

The sneak preview of the 2011 line-up, released today, features authors from 11 different nationalities including American, British, Chinese, Egyptian, Emirati, Indian, Iranian, Lebanese, Filipino, Palestinian, Saudi Arabian and Ukrainian.

Adult English language fiction writers include A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian author Marina Lewycka, Joseph O’Neill author of The Pen/Faulkner award-winning Netherland, winner of the Man Asian prize, Miguel Syjuco and Abraham Verghese, author of the best-selling, Cutting for Stone.

Best-selling writer and journalist, Xinran, author of The Good Women of China and Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother, will join corporate trainer and author of Ten Keys to Success, Dr Ibrahim Al Fiky, food writer and author of Sweet Alternative, Ariana Bundy and Kamel Abdul Malik, author of The Rhetoric of Violence.