Writers, readers, curious spirits – get your diaries out.
It’s the Arab world’s largest celebration of the written world, and the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is nearly here again.
Now in its 10th year, the event will run from March 1-10 at Dubai Festival City. You can check out the full programme here – and you should, it’s full of delights. But for the sake of brevity, we’ve rounded up five very cool women we’re looking forward to hearing from.
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Carol Ann Duffy
The first woman to be named the United Kingdom’s poet laureate, Duffy is a bit of a big name. Her writing on relationships, grief and the self is vital, honest and artful. She once told the Guardian “I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way.” We’ve had lines from her collection Rapture kicking around in our heads since university.
Carol Ann Duffy will read at Dubai Opera at 8pm on Tuesday March 6. Details here.
Dr Hatoon al-Fassi
Dr Hatoon al-Fassi is a renowned Saudi academic and activist with a particular interest in Arab women’s history. If you’re interested in the state of feminism in Saudi Arabia (big tick for us) then one of Dr al-Fassi’s three appearances at the festival is a must. We’ll be hitting up her talk titled Women in Arabia, Myth and Representation. She’s also sitting on an International Women’s Day panel.
Dr Hatoon al-Fassi will speak twice on Thursday March 8 at 10am and 8pm, and once on Friday March 9 at 4pm. Both days’ events are at the Intercontinental. Details here.
Cheryl Strayed
American author and advice columnist Cheryl Strayed is the woman behind the New York Times bestseller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which was adapted into a film starring Reese Witherspoon. Her frank, compassionate writing has won her fans around the world. Her work has been translated into 40 languages.
Cheryl Strayed will appear in conversation with Brandy Scott on Friday March 9 at the Intercontinental, and on the panel mentioned above on Thursday March 8. Details here and here.
Karen Osman
Winner of the 2016 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature Montegrappa Writing Prize, Karen Osman is a Dubai-based writer and entrepreneur. Her thriller The Good Mother follows the intersecting lives of three women with secrets won her a three-book deal, the next of which will be coming out this year.
Karen Osman will appear at the prize giving for this year’s Montegrappa Writing Prize at 4pm on Saturday March 3 at the Intercontinental. Details here.
Dr Jane Hawking
Dr Jane Hawking was married to theoretical physicist Dr Stephen Hawking for over 20 years. Her memoir, Travelling to Infinity, was adapted into the 2014 film The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. Hawking’s talk will cover this period of her life and her 2016 novel, Silent Music.
Dr Jane Hawking will speak at 2pm on Friday March 9 at the Intercontinental. Details here.
Images: Supplied
