Book Clubs
Love to read?
Book clubs are a great way to get more from the books you read, discover new books, and meet new people.
Friendly, informal and fun; join our book clubs today.
Festival Book Club (English)
When: Once a month, on a Wednesday
Time: 7:00-8:30pm
Language: English
Age Group: 18+
* Dates and times subject to change.
Festival Book Club (Arabic)
When: Once a Month
Time: 7:00pm-8:00pm
Language: Arabic
Age Group: 18+
Children’s Book Club (9-11 years)
When: Once a month
Time: 10:00am-11:00am
Language: English
Age Group: 9-11
Young Adults’ Book Club (12+)
When: Once a month
Time: 11:00am-12:00pm
Language: English
Age Group: 12+
The Guide
Can anyone join?
If you love books and talking about them with fellow bookworms, you’re in!
Do I need to pay anything?
There is no registration fee, the only requirements are a name, email address and contact number for our records.
How do you choose titles?
As we get closer to the 2021 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature we focus on books by festival authors.
This means that by the time the Festival arrives, when authors discuss their work in various events or ‘sessions’, you can really engage with the conversation and get a feel for what else in their backlist you’d like to add to your reading pile.
When not discussing Festival authors, we welcome suggestions from book club members, combined with suggestions of our own at the literature foundation, and put a shortlist of books to a group vote.
What day/time do you meet?
Weekday/Weekend evening in the last week of every month. 7-8pm. We’ve tried a variety of different timings for book club, and have found evenings work best for the majority of our group.
What is the format of discussions?
We discuss the book of the month for about an hour, looking at plot, character and language (it’s always useful to bring a few thoughts or a short passage that you’d like to read out and discuss) and at the end of the chat we have a quick recommendation round where we each recommend a book that isn’t on the book club list, because we can never have enough books.
Do you focus on one particular genre?
Nope. We cover literary fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, works in translation, sci/fi fantasy and short story collections. This means there’s a discussion accessible to everyone at some point and it encourages regular members to break out of their comfort zones every once in a while.
Do I need to read the book before I attend?
It’s important to read the book before the discussion but we all have busy lives and sometimes they get in the way. If you haven’t finished the book but still want to join in that’s fine, but remember that Book Club is FULL OF SPOILERS, and we will ruin the ending for you. (You have been warned).
Where do I get the books?
We’re passionate about supporting authors, booksellers and publishers alongside readers. We are delighted to offer a 15% discount via our Festival Bookseller Magrudy’s exclusively for book club members.
Do you still meet during the Summer months?
We do; however, we branch out for the Summer into some different titles before we move onto the new Festival Book Club year which starts in September.
Festival Book Club (English)
NOTE: The time of this meeting has been changed. Please see the new timings reflected below.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, Aug 18, 7:30pm – 8:45pm
In our next meeting, we are looking at… How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones.
Location: Zoom! RSVP to a book club discussion and you’ll receive a zoom link on the day of the meeting.
Language: English; Age Group: 18+
Festival Book Club (Arabic)
More information coming soon!
Language: Arabic; Age Group: 18+
Litfest Children’s Book Club (9-11 years)
NOTE: The Children’s Book Club will not be meeting for the month of June. Please read the book assigned for July.
Next Meeting: Saturday, July 24th, 10:00am-11:00am
The next month’s book is The Secret Life of Dubai Street Cats by Bashayer Arif.
The Children’s Book Club is aimed at children between 9-11 years of age to meet monthly during term time to discuss books including those by authors who will attend the 2021 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. The meetings will be held virtually on Zoom.
Register for the new season of the LitFest Children’s Book Clubs via the form below. All participants interested in attending from September 2020 must sign up using the form.
Due to space constraints, please ensure that you have confirmed attendance before the meeting.
Please encourage your children to read the book in advance, so that they can join in the conversation.
Language: English; Age Group: 9-11 years
Register Below
LitFest Young Adults’ Book Club (12+ years)
NOTE: The Young Adults’ Book Club will not be meeting for the month of June. Please read the book assigned for July.
Next Meeting: Saturday, July 24th, 11:00am- 12:00pm
The next month’s book is Miss Peregrine’s House for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.
The Young Adults’ Book Club is aimed at students over the age of 12. The book club will meet monthly during term time to discuss books including those authors who will attend the 2021 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. The meetings will be held virtually on Zoom.
Register for the new season of the LitFest Young Adults’ Book Club via the form below. All participants interested in attending from September 2020 must sign up using the form.
Due to space constraints, please ensure that you have confirmed attendance before the meeting.
Please encourage your children to read the book in advance, so that they can join in the conversation.
Language: English; Age Group: 12+ years
Register Below
Reading inspiration for book clubs
Looking for inspiration and reading lists for your book club?
Every book club is as unique as its members, but there are reading lists for all interests. Try looking at Goodreads or BookBub’s reading lists, or browse through our previous Festival programmes for inspiration.
Magrudy’s fresh new reads are also full of inspiration, with a range of the very latest fiction, non-fiction, children’s, YA and much more.
