Dubai: The Emirates Literature Foundation has unveiled its Education Programme for the upcoming Emirates LitFest Students Edition and opened ticket sales.
Building on the success of the virtual programme in 2021, the programme for 2022 will feature a great line-up of virtual sessions made available to schools for one month, from February 10 to March 10. There is a nominal fee per school, rather than per student, which makes the virtual programme all the more accessible to everyone, including those located too far away to make it to the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in person.
The sessions are accessible and captivating for a diverse range of interests and age groups. Designed to be engaging and interactive, students have been asked to submit their questions in advance for authors to answer.
‘Removing travel time and need for individual tickets’
Ahlam Bolooki, festival director, said: “We are always looking at how we can make our festival and our education programme more inclusive and more accessible. While it was the pandemic that made us pivot to a virtual programme, the feedback we received this year from schools was amazing. By removing the travel time and the need for individual tickets for each student, we have been able to reach out to an even greater number of students, including those doing distance learning. We are thrilled with the line-up of authors for this year’s Emirates LitFest Student Edition, and I am confident that they will inspire young people across the country.”
English language sessions
Schools can choose between a group of five English sessions, a group of five Arabic sessions, or both languages. During the one-month period, the school can show each session as many times as they want, in different classes, at assemblies, or as a view at home task to be discussed in class.
The English language sessions feature authors for all ages, including Polly Dunbar (age four+), Layne Redman (age six+), Erin Entrada Kelly (age nine+), Nayanika Mahtani (age 12+), and Carlos Andres Gomez (age 15+).
Arabic language sessions feature Julnar Haju (age four+), Nadia Al Najjar (age six+), Ali Ashoor (age nine+), Sahar Naja Mahfouz (12+), and Hadil Ghoneim (age 15+).
Maximum 30 tickets
There will also be a small number of Education Programme sessions on site at the Festival in Habtoor City for school trips. Each school will be limited to a maximum of 30 tickets on a first come, first serve basis. The Festival will be held from February 3-13, 2022, across Hilton Dubai Al Habtoor City, Habtoor Palace Dubai, and V Hotel Dubai.
School competitions, including the Emirates NBD Poetry For All, RGS Guildford Dubai Children’s Letter Writing, Chevron Readers’ Cup, and the Story Writing competitions will celebrate the winners at the festival.
Voices of Future Generations will celebrate the launch of the second anthology of winning stories at the festival with a free-to-attend event on Saturday, February 5.
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The ‘School Librarian of the Year’ for 2022 will also be crowned at a special awards ceremony.
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.
