Kate Adie, Jeffrey Archer, Jeffery Deaver, Alia Mamdouh and Tan Twan Eng in guest list

By Mariam M. Al SerkalSenior Reporter

Published: 18:45 November 19, 2012

Dubai: The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is set to host five special events for its fifth year anniversary as well as a ladies’ morning, next year in March, which will be held under the of Heroes and Villains. Festival organisers yesterday announced that the 2013 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will take place from March 5-9 in Dubai under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in partnership with Emirates and the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. The five-day event will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City. “The ladies’ morning will be on Thursday featuring key business speakers who will cover a wide range of topics that are important to women, such as how to juggle your life as a working mother and a wife,” said Festival Director Isobel Abulhoul, OBE. The preliminary author list features a stellar cast of 80 authors, writers and speakers from 25 countries who will cover a huge range of subjects, styles and genres. The international line-up already reads like a roll-call of distinctive authors that include Kate Adie, Boris Akunin, Jeffrey Archer, Jeffery Deaver, Alia Mamdouh and Tan Twan Eng. “We will hold our Opening Night that will turn the traditional headline lecture and recitations into a starry evening of unmissable interviews, debates and performance. Next up will be the new Desert where guests will enjoy a traditional supper and a chance to leave all the cares of the city behind, before experiencing a stimulating, celebratory feast of poetry and music from around the world,” said Isobel.

Further events during the five-day festival will also feature a Murder Mystery dinner party game wherein guests spend an evening solving a murder dramatically presented by actors, using sets of clues and character insights. The festival which closes on Saturday will for the first time stage a closing event. All details will be announced closer to the date but organisers have already confirmed that admission tickets will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis and will be free of charge. A brand new feature for the coming edition is the First Fiction Adult Novel Competition, which gives unpublished novelists the unique opportunity to have their work evaluated by one of the UK’s Top Literary Agents, Luigi Bonomi, as well as the chance to win a trip to the London Book Fair 2013 and other prizes. Recently launched, the competition runs until January 10, 2013, and all information and submission is available online at www.emirateslitfest.com