Emirates Airline Festival of Literature: the best bits

The sixth Emirates Airline Festival of Literature drew to a close on Saturday night with several hours of thank you speeches, wrapping up four days of fascinating talks, debates and workshops at the InterContinental Hotel in Dubai’s Festival City. Isobel Abulhoul, the director, had compiled an excellent and diverse programme this year, mixing well-known names from British literature, media and publishing with a host of international authors, many of them Arabic.

Judging by the buzzing corridors between sessions every guest will have had their own highlights, but here is my choice of some of the finest.