Dubai's pupils celebrate publication of short stories

Dubai: Dubai's youngest authors are celebrating the launch of their book The Sea at the Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature (EAIFL).

A total of 22 school students from Dubai were feted at an official function to mark the launch of their co-authored book.

The winning entries of a countrywide story writing contest have been recorded for posterity in book form, and the authors ranked among the youngest in the region to have achieved publishing fame.

The book launch was held on the inaugural day of the festival, which will continue until March 1, under the patronage of Shaikh Majid Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority.

Celebrated novelist and children's author Anthony Horowitz was the guest speaker at the event, and awarded prizes to the students.

The winning entries of the EAIFL Story Writing Competition - from a total of 3,050 submitted - were chosen from among three age groups and two language categories. The bi-lingual The Sea contains 12 English and 10 Arabic entries.

The EAIFL Story Writing Competition was launched in September 2008, among schools in the UAE, and students were asked to submit their entries based on a single theme, namely "the sea".