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The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature announced that Dr Jane Goodall, the world’s foremost authority on chimpanzees, and Mai Jia, arguably the most successful writer in China, have been confirmed for the 2020 event, running from February 4-9.
Speaking at a special pre-festival event at the Cultural & Scientific Association Centre in Al Mamzar on February 1, Goodall will share her life’s work studying the apes of Gombe, and her educational project in the UAE: Roots & Shoots.
Goodall’s talk will cover her extraordinary scientific breakthroughs in animal behaviour and her journey to becoming one of the world’s most prominent and active conservationists, as well as her ongoing efforts to inspire every individual to protect the environment we share.
She is back by popular demand, as her last event with Emirates Literature Foundation in early 2019 sold out within hours.
Mai Jia is possibly the most successful writer in China today. With five bestselling spy and thriller novels, he has sold more than five million copies in 33 languages with both TV and film adaptations.
He will be discussing his award-winning career, from achieving consistent bestseller status and receiving the prestigious Mao Dun award to inventing a new type of chess while researching mathematics for Decoded.
These two join the line up for the 12th Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, which includes the world’s greatest explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes; bestselling memoir and fiction author Mitch Albom; TV presenter and best-selling author Nadiya Hussain; the first Arab winner of the International Man Booker Prize Jokha Alharthi; celebrity branding expert Jeetendr Sehdev; space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, and UAE astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansouri.
The Festival will welcome more than 150 writers in total to the InterContinental Festival City in February.
Award-winning and best-selling authors include Tayari Jones, Hoda Barakat, Omaima Alkhamis, Esi Edugayan, Mohammed Hanif, Linwood Barclay, Santa Montefiore and Omar Saif Ghobash.
Ahlam Bolooki, festival director for Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, said: “I look at our programme and I am humbled by the incredible writers who give up their time to share their passion with us and our diverse community. These three writers are all veritable super stars in their genres, and I recommend booking quickly before tickets sell out.”
