Top author intrigued by Ibn Battuta’s children

Dubai:  Best-selling author Tim Mackintosh-Smith said he is intrigued by the thought of finding Ibn Battuta's children, having written a trilogy about one of the world's most famous travellers.

"Particularly in the Maldives, I was very aware when I was there, that I might be looking at his descendants," he said at a press gathering on Monday, adding that Ibn Battuta did leave at least one son behind on the islands during his travels.

Festival run-up

He is visiting Dubai from his home in Yemen, for events in the run-up to the third Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, to be held next March.

"Ibn Battuta got further than any other traveller before him, and he got further than any other human being since human beings began to walk upright: he was that important.

"The other part of this importance is that he got home safe and sound and wrote about it," he said. "There might have been dozens of other Ibn Battutas, but they didn't get home and they didn't write about it."

The author has been called the "modern-day Lawrence of Arabia".

Taking only a pen and notebook when he travels, he said he sometimes gathers half a million words per journal.

Discomfort

"I have plenty of discomfort in my travels. I used to sleep with hyenas baying around me at night when I was young. I still do that occasionally."

Mackintosh-Smith's books were used as a reference point during the development of the newly-opened Ibn Battuta Gate hotel, opposite Ibn Battuta Mall.

The third book in his trilogy about the man - Landfalls - traces his travels from Zanzibar to the Alhambra via China and Timbuktu.

Get your copy: Book signing

Tim Mackintosh-Smith will be signing his latest book Landfalls at Magrudy's, Ibn Battuta Mall, today from 7-9pm.

The third Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, held under the patronage of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) will run from March 8-12, 2011.