UAE is like literature: Shaikh Nahyan

Dubai - Minister opens eighth Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

The eighth edition of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature officially opened on Tuesday with Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, praising the event's important contribution in the development of the Emirati culture.
In his keynote address, Shaikh Nahyan said: "Literature engulfs us. We now have a global culture embraced and enabled by the wide variety of the world's literature.
"The UAE has become a global culture and like literature, (the country) comprises every culture, every ethnicity, every gender, every country, every religion, every philosophy and every point of view," he added.
Shaikh Nahyan noted that "Emirati culture comes to understand and respect the many elements of this global culture in many ways.Our own literary contribution are multiplied and own culture is flourishing because of the many things afforded to us by world literature. thus, the Emirates LitFest has become crucial to the cultural well-being of Dubai and the UAE."
He added that the UAE "must continue to see, create, adapt and absorb knowledge if it is to flourish. A flourishing culture welcomes knowledge, a flourishing culture upholds basic values by opening itself to the world of knowledge. Literature promotes respect for different cultures and helps create the world of peace and understading," he added.
With the theme of the festival highlighting the works of William Shakespeare, Shaikh Nahyan expressed that the power of literature to communicate across all potential barriers has made Shakespeare more alive today than he was 400 years ago. "Successful translators are accomplished artists bringing the world together," said Shaikh Nahyan.
It was also a night of music as The Emirates LitFest Choir rendered a stirring performance of the UAE National Anthem and Festival Anthem while UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy read from her work, accompanied by musician John Sampson.
Julian Flanagan, read one of his father Sir Maurice Flanagan's poems, Anthony Horowitz talked about Foyle, Sherlock, Bond and more while award-winning poet and journalist Ali Abu Al Reesh, Emirati author Reem Al Kamali and young author Abdullah Ali Hassan examine how the passage of time has shaped the UAE.
Chris Hadfield also gave an astronaut's perspective on life on and above Earth.
The night was also dedicated to Sir Maurice Flanagan, former executive vice-chairman of Emirates Airline, co-founder of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and trustee of the Emirates Literature Foundation, whose memory was honoured with the 2016 Festival Personality Award.
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• UAE