Dubai, UAE, 4 January 2022:  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, 10 February – 10 March. There is a nominal fee per school, rather than per student, which makes the virtual programme 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.

 

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 an even greater number of students, including those 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.” 

 

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 4+), Layne Redman (age 6+), Erin Entrada Kelly (age 9+), Nayanika Mahtani (age 12+), and Carlos Andres Gomez (age 15+). 

 

Arabic language sessions feature Julnar Haju (age 4+), Nadia Al Najjar (age 6+), Ali Ashoor (age 9+), Sahar Naja Mahfouz (12+), and Hadil Ghoneim (age 15+). 

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 is held 3-13 February 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 Saturday morning, 5 February.   

 

The School Librarian of the Year for 2022 will also be crowned at a special awards ceremony.