Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2027
Dubai, United Arab Emirates · 14–20 Apr 2027 · T2 Strong
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (The Festival) is an international literature festival held annually in the United Arab Emirates. The festival is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, under the auspices of the Emirates Literature Foundation and is run by Ahlam Bolooki. The festival's offices are located within the Dubai International Writers' Centre.
- Language
- English
- Genres
- general lit
- Organizer
- Ahlam Bolooki
- Format
- in-person
- Duration (days)
- 7
- Next edition
- 14–20 Apr 2027
- Author participation
- Programme invitations via Emirates Literature Foundation; public tickets; schools programme
- Audience
- Among the attendees were Jeffrey Archer, Ken Hom, Anupam Kher, Nik Gowing, Anthony Horowitz, Shobhaa De, Jeffery Deaver, Lynda La Plante, Ian Rankin, Dan Rather, and Tan Twan Eng.
- Age policy
- As part of the festival's stance as a family-friendly event that appeals to audiences of all ages, Oliver Jeffers, a visual artist and children's book author, also attended the festival.
- Language notes
- Listed working language: English
- Genre notes
- Primary focus: general lit
- Programme
- In addition, the Festival introduced new sessions, Literary Idol, a cross between Dragons’ Den and Pop Idol, and Big Ideas, where authors went up on stage to speak on a topic of their choice along with the Festival Prologue, a series of three-day workshops held on the weekend before the Festival.
- Awards
- The Festival was awarded Best Family Friendly Day Out Award at the Time Out Kids Awards 2016 and Favorite Festival at the What's On Awards 2016.
- Past guests
- Jeffrey Archer, Jon Ronson, Christina Lamb, Kathy Reichs, Francesca Simon, Alan Titchmarsh, Ben Miller, Kanishk Tharoor, Abdullah Al-Jumah, Nadiya Hussain, Andrew Davies, Lucy Hawking
- Past editions
- 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
- Stay
- In 2022, After the world started to recover from the pandemic, The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature took place at Habtoor City hotels, in Dubai, in partnership with Emirates Airline and the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and was themed "Here Comes the Sun".