Here Comes The Sun: Emirates Litfest Releases Stunning Images Of Dubai Community Celebrating Countdown To The 2022 Festival
UAE leads the charge in global groundswell of conversation about reading with a 7% y-o-y growth
Here Comes The Sun: Emirates Litfest Releases Stunning Images Of Dubai Community Celebrating Countdown To The 2022 Festival
UAE leads the charge in global groundswell of conversation about reading with a 7% y-o-y growth
Dubai Desert: 30 November 2021: The countdown to 14th Emirates Airline Festival of Literature begins with a spectacular sunrise event as a taster for the leading global literary festival. Bringing to life one of the findings of a new Mapper360® study, the event saw readers and writers come together in a shared experience, which echoes a strong online trend of growing communities of vocal readers and responsive writers in dialogue. The study also identified a 3% global increase in online conversations about books and reading, with the UAE leading the charge with a 7% increase over the previous year.
Hosted in the Dubai desert at secluded desert camp Caravanserai, the sunrise event was attended by more than 100 authors, poets, Foundation Friends, and lovers of stories, with 200 books available to share, read, discuss, and take home. The event signals a new dawn for the Festival, with the 2022 programme featuring more unique experiences and surprising special events than ever before under the theme Here Comes the Sun.
The full Mapper360® report identifies key trends in the literary landscape across the UAE and globally, and it will be released in the coming months.
The globally renowned Emirates LitFest will take place 3 – 12 February 2022 at locations throughout Dubai, with a packed programme of events, literary readings, cultural and musical performances, foodie experiences, live debates and interactive workshops throughout the 10 days of the festival.
It will also feature a number of ‘only in Dubai’ special events, including the prized jewel of the Festival, Desert Stanzas; an atmospheric poetry extravaganza under the stars at Caravanserai, bringing together world-class poetry performance and Arabian hospitality. There will also be intimate readings with award-winning authors, fireside chats, and a celebration for Charles Dicken’s birthday where literature’s most iconic woman scorned, Miss Havisham, finally gets to have her wedding.
Festival director Ahlam Bolooki commented: “After living with the strain of the pandemic for so long, coming together here in this beautiful desert landscape to read, talk about books, and watch the light chase away the shadows is a balm for the soul. We have been told by our community how much they need stories, books and the Festival, and we didn’t want to make them wait. Coming out here for a reading breakfast with hundreds of members of our local community has rejuvenated us and given us the boost of positivity and joy we associate with the Festival.”
Over the past 13 years, the Festival has welcomed more than 1,800 authors, poets, artists, performers and experts. In 2021, it reached more than 117,000 people.
The Festival is held with Founding Partners Emirates Airline and the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated authority for heritage, arts, and culture. Tickets for the 2022 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will be on sale from emirateslitfest.com.
More information about the Emirates Literature Foundation can be found online and year-round news of #EmiratesLitFest on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The Foundation also has two podcasts; the Best of the Emirates LitFest, and the Boundless Book Club.
Notes to editors:
Photo caption: Photo shows the literary community coming together to welcome the sun with a reading extravaganza at the Caravanserai desert camp in Dubai.
About the Emirates Literature Foundation:
The Emirates Literature Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation which supports and nurtures a love of literature in the United Arab Emirates and the region, through a programme of varied cultural initiatives.
Established in 2013 by Royal Decree issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Foundation aims to foster a love for literature, with a focus on the Arabic language.
In line with the National Reading Policy of the UAE, the Foundation has implemented several long-term projects including the School Librarian of the Year Award, Kateb Maktub, and From the Inside Out, as well as conducting year-round student education programmes, book clubs and creative writing courses. The Foundation’s previous initiatives included the 2020 International Literary Festivals Conference, 2016 Dubai Translation Conference and the 2017 Dubai International Publishing Conference.
The Foundation is also the governing body of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the UAE’s premier literary festival.
About the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature:
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is the Arab World’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word, featuring international and regional writers, poets, thinkers and speakers from around the world. Over the last 13 years more than 1,700 authors from over one hundred countries have spoken at the Festival. In 2021 the Festival reached more than 117,000 people, in person and via live streaming. Sessions included Nobel prize winner Malala, Booker Prize nominees Avni Doshi (Burnt Sugar) and Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister the Serial Killer), as well as internationally acclaimed authors Elif Shafak, Amin Maalouf and Lemn Sissay. Behavioural expert Thomas Erikson shared a stage with Sherif Arafa, and the Education Programme featured children’s favourites Ali Sparkes, Obada Takla, Sam Copeland, Isabel Thomas, Sanaa Chabbani, and Ben Baily Smith, AKA Doc Brown.
The aim of the Festival is to develop a culture of reading as an enjoyable habit in the UAE, and its efforts have been recognised through many awards over the years. By providing an equal platform for international and locally based talents, the Festival continues to build the literary landscape in the UAE and further afield. Alongside the main programme, the Festival organises an Education programme, reaching students across the seven emirates of the UAE. There are also student competitions, held in Arabic and English, which allow young people to showcase their skills through poetry, short stories and reading.
Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Festival is a key part of the Emirates Literature Foundation, which was established in 2013 by Royal Decree. In partnership with Emirates Airline and the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated authority for heritage, arts, and culture, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will be back in 2022. For information and updates about the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature visit the website: www.emirateslitfest.com