Dubai: Organisers of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature announced that BBC’s Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, will deliver the prestigious Orwell Lecture for the upcoming Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. They also announced additional names for the sixth edition of the Festival, bringing the total of authors participating in the celebration of the written and spoken word to more than 140.
The new list includes British broadcast journalist Jeremy Paxman, TV chef Silvena Rowe, Swedish crime-writer Camilla Lackberg, Indian restaurateur Camellia Panjabi and novelist and journalist Melanie Chappuis.
The Festival will take place in Dubai from March 4-8 under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and in partnership with Dubai Culture.
The Festival is now part of the Emirates Literature Foundation, which was established last year by Royal decree.
Other names announced this week were poet and playwright Lemn Sissay, author Yasir Sulaiman, economist Charles-Édouard Bouée, Al Arabiya talk show host Giselle Khoury and cartoonist Zep.
Tickets will go on sale from January 21, online at emirateslitfest.com and at Festival’s Bookseller WH Smith’s selected outlets. Ticket prices start at Dh40 and there are many events and activities on offer free of charge.
Members of the Festival Friends programme will have exclusive access to tickets one week in advance on January 14 at the Friends discounted price. Full details of the programme for the Festival will be available online.
