{"id":63384,"date":"2022-02-05T09:22:02","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T05:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/?p=63384"},"modified":"2022-02-05T09:22:02","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T05:22:02","slug":"highlights-from-the-emirates-airline-festival-of-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/highlights-from-the-emirates-airline-festival-of-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights From The Emirates Airline Festival Of Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second day of the festival opened with the Official Ceremony; a smorgasbord of the best of the Emirates LitFest.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

In the presence of HH Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, HE Noura Al Kaabi, Mohammed Al Murr and many more esteemed guests and authors, the celebration of the festival theme, ‘Here Comes the Sun’ began with a very personal and emotional story about finding light after darkness from Sasha Bates.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

This was followed beautifully with a poetry and music collaboration with Danabelle Gutierrez and Emirati soul singer Arqam. Ashraf Al Ashmawi, Salma Serry, Amal Al Sahlawi, and Ben Miller also added their unique tributes to the theme. Festival director Ahlam Bolooki encouraged visitors to explore all that the programme has to offer, and the event ended with a beautiful performance of This is Our Time, by the Dubai Youth Choir and Repton School Choir.\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Key Highlights:<\/b><\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

David Walliams<\/b>\u00a0once again proved to be a big crowd pleaser in his first sold out session of the weekend.\u00a0The\u00a0popular\u00a0comedian and children’s book author dazzled his young fans with jokes and fun tales as he celebrated the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of one his most iconic characters and her return in a recently released sequel:\u00a0Gangsta Granny Strikes Back!<\/i><\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Author\u00a0Alka Joshi<\/b>\u00a0transported fans back to Jaipur in the 1970s as she discussed the sequel to her soon-to-be-adapted bestseller (and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick)\u00a0The Henna Artist<\/i>.\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

A gripping session featuring\u00a0Toshikazu Kawaguchi<\/b>\u00a0who discussed his international bestseller\u00a0Before the Coffee Gets Cold<\/i>\u00a0and which part of his own life he’d travel back in time to!\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

The day will end with\u00a0Ken Arto<\/b>\u00a0(Demon Slayer<\/i>) in conversation with fellow animator and anime fan\u00a0Fadel AlMheiri<\/b>\u00a0(Catsaway<\/i>) as they share their influences and offer career advice, as well as a powerhouse performance from Instagram-famous poet\u00a0Nikita Gill<\/b>\u00a0which will focus on ‘Maidens, Myths, and Monsters.’\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Coming Up Tomorrow:<\/b><\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Voices of Future Generations<\/b>, the unique writing initiative for children supported by Goodwill Ambassador, is launching its anthology of winning stories at 9:30 in the Habtoor Palace ballroom.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

The 10 winners of the\u00a0First Chapter: ELF Seddiqi Writers’ Fellowship<\/b>\u00a0will be announced and paired with their star author mentors at 11:30 in the Habtoor Palace ballroom.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

At 15:00, the winners of the\u00a0Emirates LitFest Writing Prize<\/b>\u00a0will be announced in a session about the path to publication \u2013 an unmissable conversation for any aspiring writers.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Actor, comedian, and children’s book author\u00a0Ben Miller<\/b>\u00a0will be thrilling audiences of all ages as he talks about his latest book,\u00a0How I Became A Dog Called Midnight\u00a0<\/i>\u2014 tickets are still available!\u00a0<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n

Author\u00a0Brit Bennett<\/b>\u00a0will\u00a0stream in virtually to\u00a0talk about her acclaimed bestseller\u00a0The Vanishing Half<\/i>\u00a0and why it’s themes of race, family, the lingering effects of history have resonated with audiences so much.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second day of the festival opened with the Official Ceremony; a smorgasbord of the best of the Emirates LitFest. In the presence of HH Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, HE Noura Al Kaabi, Mohammed Al Murr and many more esteemed guests and authors, the celebration of the festival theme, ‘Here Comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63386,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63387,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63384\/revisions\/63387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}