Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

The Emirates Lit Fest brings several hundred authors to Dubai for six days of sessions in Arabic and English, with a large schools programme running alongside. It is the biggest literary festival in the Gulf and one of the few events in the UAE calendar built on ideas rather than on retail, sport or trade.

No attendance figure is collected in this pass.

Its bilingual structure is the distinguishing feature and a genuine operational feat: parallel Arabic and English programmes, with some sessions interpreted, across a single venue.

The festival has had to navigate the region's publishing restrictions in public more than once, which is itself part of what it is.

Sessions are ticketed individually, which means a visitor builds a programme rather than buying a pass.

PlanningA late-January or February window; sessions are individually ticketed and the popular ones sell out.

Dates

Season

2026Late January or February

2027Late January or February

2028Late January or February

2029Late January or February

2030Late January or February

Computed from the recurrence rule we record for this entry, not copied from a listing. A date marked ~ comes from a calendar conversion and the observance may fall a day or two either side.