Emirates Airline Festival of Literature to preview 2016 authors

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature has released the names of 12 authors who will be attending the 2016 festival ahead of the announcement of the final lineup in October. Over the coming months, more names will follow as the excitement builds to a crescendo.
“At our inaugural festival in 2009, we had a total of 65 authors participating,” said Isobel Abulhoul, CEO and trustee of the Emirates Literature Foundation and Festival Director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. “But today, with our eighth festival still another eight months away, we already have more than 65 authors confirmed.”
She added: “With the tremendous support and guidance of our title sponsor Emirates Airline and our partners Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, we have built on our solid foundations and remained true to the original vision which came from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, our patron.”
Helen MacDonald, winner of the 2014 Costa Book Award for her bestselling book H is for Hawk, will be here. Acclaimed British personalities, including UK’s Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, philosopher A.C. Grayling, and Professor Tim Spector, author of Identically Different and the best-selling The Diet Myth, will also be flying in.
Festival favorite crime writer Ian Rankin will be returning with another Detective Rebus mystery, while Anthony Horowitz, a prolific author who has turned his hand to write the latest James Bond novel, Trigger Mortis, is also very popular with younger festival-goers who are fans of his "Alex Rider" series.
Best-selling Emirati counselor and coach Hala Kazim, historical fiction writer Conn Iggulden, and eminent investigative journalist Dan Rather will all be returning to packed audiences next year.
At the heart of the Festival has always been its children’s program.
The festival aims to foster a love of reading in the Emirates.