For many years, people have been talking about the decline of the book, with shorter attention spans and a general thirst for instant gratification. But we have seen reading and books make a major mainstream come-back since the start of the pandemic. 

So instead of interviewing an author or recommending books, today, we dive into the results of a study we have just published about trends in literature with our partners and friends from Four Communications.

The Emirates Literature Foundation team are joined by Natalie Amos, Managing Director Lifestyle MENA, and dialling in from London is Truda Spruyt, Managing director Culture at Four Communications, where her clients include the International Booker Prize, and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.

Download the white paper: https://www.elfdubai.org/en/white-paper-read-between-the-lines

Click here to take the test and find out what kind of reader you are!

Lemn Sissay knows more than most what it takes to change the story. Until he was seventeen he didn’t even know his real name, having been brought up in a succession of foster families and care homes against his mother’s wishes. In his memoir My Name is Why, the award-winning writer and poet tells the story of his fight for justice and finding hope and creativity while caught in an uncaring and dangerous bureaucracy. In this wide-ranging and inspiring conversation, Lemn reflects on the response to his powerful book, his writing life and his discoveries about life and culture in difficult times.

For all of women’s advances in recent years, feminism remains a fraught topic and women still have to find creative ways to assert themselves in different areas. Hafsa Lodi and Houriya Altaheri, trailblazers in fashion and football respectively, discuss their careers and the recent events and ongoing trends that have affected women’s prospects.

American journalist Hafsa Lodi has covered fashion in the Middle East for the past decade. Her book Modesty: A Fashion Paradox has enjoyed critical praise, with Harper’s Bazaar calling it “a well-researched and tender portrait of the politics and people behind a movement.” Houriya Altaheri is an Emirati sportsperson, FIFA coach and instructor, and businesswoman, currently Head Coach for the UAE Women’s National Football Team. Her book Becoming a Legend tells the story of how she contended with both a traditional culture and a male-dominated sport in pursuing her dreams.

Do you feel like you are surrounded by idiots? What is going on in the head of that one colleague you just can’t work with? How do meetings always end up over-length and off-topic? Our panel brings together two authors who have tackled these questions and more in their books on business, cross-cultural communication and the always-challenging art of getting on with people.

Thomas Erikson is an internationally bestselling behavioural expert whose instantly accessible “four colour” system underlies his books Surrounded by Idiots, Surrounded by Psychopaths and the upcoming Surrounded by Bad Bosses. Sherif Arafa is a self-development author, editorial cartoonist and public speaker. His book which translates as Why are People Around You Idiots? addresses the challenges of cross-cultural communication.

Fearmongering and disinformation are serious problems today, and the medical world, in particular, is plagued by junk science, outdated theories and highly contested data presented as fact – not to mention dangerous conspiracy theories such as the one driving the anti-vaccine movement. Our panel of medical experts takes a scalpel to the mass of confusing data on topics from fad diets to the coronavirus outbreak. Send your questions ahead of time for a chance to have the panel discuss them!

Jay Jayamohan is a Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon and author of Everything That Makes Us Human: Case Notes of a Children’s Brain Surgeon. He has been the star of two BBC documentaries following the work of neurosurgeons and has advised on head-related court cases.

Dr Rupy Aujla MBBS, BSc, MRCGP, is a GP and Sunday Times bestselling author of three books: The Doctor’s Kitchen, Eat to Beat Illness and Doctor’s Kitchen 3-2-1. He is founder of “The Doctor’s Kitchen”, promoting the medicinal benefits of eating well, creating healthy recipes and explaining the clinical research behind them and regularly appears on TV and in the media.

Nafea Alyasi is a doctor and writer from the United Arab Emirates. He holds a BA in general surgery from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences – UAE University, and is one of the medical care officials for isolation patients infected with Covid-19.

Youngest Nobel laureate and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai has never stopped advocating for girls’ right to education, despite the attempt on her life by the Taliban in 2012 in her home, Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Join the conversation with Malala, now a fresh graduate from Oxford in politics, philosophy, and economics, as she delves into her life and her never-ending endeavor for the eradication of systematic exclusion of children and girls from education. Malala is an example that all it takes is courage to muster a voice — a revolutionary voice.

This session was recorded in front of a live audience at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2021.

Moderated by Alia Al Mansoori

Also tune in to the Boundless Book Club, the book club podcast from the Emirates Literature Foundation: https://the-boundless-book-club.captivate.fm/listen

Elif Shafak’s remarkable career has seen her use the power of story to bring people together. Perhaps most famous for her fiction, which includes bestsellers The Forty Rules of Love and 10 minutes 38 seconds in This Strange World, she is also the author of reflective and insightful non-fiction.

Intellectual and entertaining, universal and personal, Elif’s stories have the rare quality of appealing to every reader. With eighteen books published and translated into fifty-four languages, she is the most widely read female author in Turkey and acclaimed across the globe.

Watch now the exploration of Elif’s writing, the challenges of conscious optimism, and the importance of bridging the gap between the East and West.

Session moderated by Ahlam Bolooki, Festival Director of Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

Also tune in to the Boundless Book Club, the book club podcast from the Emirates Literature Foundation: https://the-boundless-book-club.captivate.fm/listen