Emirates LitFest Author School Visits

This event has now taken place, please wait for updates for 2024.

Author school visits are an integral part of the educational outreach programme at the Emirates LitFest. These visits are organized by the Emirates Literature Foundation for schools based in Dubai* and offer a unique literary experience. The aim of these visits from Emirates LitFest authors is to encourage students to develop a love for reading and discover the thrill of meeting an author.

The LitFest author school visits will take place from 1-6 February 2023. Schools can register their interest by choosing a specific student age category. We want all interested LitFest authors to experience a one-of-a-kind UAE school visit. This is a great chance for your students to interact with not only authors they may know very well but also authors they might not have heard of.

* For schools in other Emirates we organize the ELF Reading Caravan and other author school visits throughout the rest of the year.

How LitFest Author School Visits Work

How to Apply for a LitFest Author School Visit

• Ensure you are on our Schools’ Contact Database.
• Decide who will be the LitFest contact at your school.
• Fill out the registration form below and take part in the bidding process. The bids are free of charge and are your school’s justification to win an Author School Visit:
• Be creative! Let your students get involved in your bid!
• Write a 150-word rationale for why you want an author to visit your school.
• Prepare a short video as part of your bid (not more than 3 minutes and not exceeding 20 MB). In the video, we would like you to showcase your students’ enthusiasm for hosting an Author School Visit.

How to Prepare for a LitFest Author School Visit

• Build up excitement in advance by promoting the Author School Visit and the Emirates LitFest to students, parents, colleagues, and friends.
• Keep an eye on your email – we work closely with the school and the author, communicating all the necessary details for a visit.
• Allocate a large room/school auditorium/multipurpose hall for an author session, to ensure maximum student participation.
• Ensure that the selected location in the school is equipped with suitable AV facilities and IT support for the author’s session, in case the author wants to share a presentation.
• Pre-order the author’s books from Magrudy’s website or bookstore.
• Designate a host or moderator from your school to help facilitate your students’ session with the author.
• Inform parents and the school community about the Author School Visit, either through a newsletter or a special announcement. You will find a sample here.

Emirates LitFest 2023 Author School Visits

Author Visit: (Author Name) at (School Name) on (Date of Visit)

You may have heard from your child that our school applied for a bid for the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature 2023‘s Author School Visits. We are delighted to share with you that our bid was successful, and we are thrilled to host a LitFest 2023 author at our school.

An order form for the author’s book/s was sent home this week. Books will be signed by (Author Name) during the visit. Please make sure you order the books in time for your child to have a unique experience of getting their book signed by the author.

Let’s get reading!

What to do on the Day of the LitFest Author School Visit

In order to have a successful and enjoyable Author School Visit, please kindly follow the guidelines below:

• A school representative must come to collect the author, accompanied by a volunteer, from the LitFest location at the designated pick-up time.
• Organize a small welcome party at the school gate to receive the author! It is very encouraging for the authors to feel welcome in the school from the moment they step inside.
• Prepare a welcome message for the author on board/digital displays.
• Setup the room allocated for the author session, in advance, with AV/IT equipment (if needed)
• Have the students seated and ready for the session.
• Begin the session on time. Sessions will last approximately 1 hour, including a Q&A, followed by a book signing.
• To facilitate a seamless book signing, we recommend the students already have the books ready with them with a note spelling their name. You can also enlist colleagues and parent volunteers to support with managing the queues.
• It is always a good idea to offer light refreshments for the author after their session.
• Drop the author and the volunteer back at the LitFest location.

What to do After the LitFest Author School Visit

• Authors love a post or story! Tag us on Twitter at @emirateslitfest and/or Instagram at @elfdubai_edu!
• Kindly answer the school visit survey which will be emailed after the visit!

Key Dates

The Emirates LitFest 2023 will take place from 1-6 February 2023. Details of the programme will be announced in November 2022, but you can sign up for our Foundation newsletter to be notified immediately.

Terms and Conditions

• All bids must go through our website. To bid for an Arabic Author, please click here.
• The biddings will go through a selection process to choose the winning bids based on the bid videos, the rationale for the Author School Visit, and other school details.
• Bidding on a specific age category does not guarantee the school an Author School Visit.
• A minimum of 50 books should be pre-ordered (by 16 January 2023) from Magrudy’s bookstore.
• Ensure you meet the session requirements including the relevant age group of students, suggested audience size, suitable location and AV/IT equipment.
• Designate a school representative to transport the author from the LitFest location to the school location and back to the LitFest location.
• Transportation to and from the school must be arranged by the schools.
• The schools participating in the Author School Visits agree to the Emirates Literature Foundation’s and Emirates Airline Festival of Literature’s use of their name and photographs of students in relation to related publicity material and activities. Schools and students should be aware that they might need to obtain parental consent for this.
• Only the schools that have successful bids will be notified in advance by email, in January 2023.
• The decisions for successful bids are final, and no correspondence will be entered into with regard to these decisions.
• The Emirates Literature Foundation reserves the right to cancel the Author School Visit if the school does not comply with the Terms and Conditions and guidelines stated above.
• Bids will close on 9 December 2022 and we will be in touch in January 2023, only with the schools that have a successful bid to allocate an author to the school and further steps.

Application Form

LitFest Author Visits are now closed for bids. But if you want to still experience the joy of the LitFest, you can book tickets to one of our many education sessions.

Contact Us

For further queries regarding LitFest Author Visits, please contact us at + 971 4 286 4750 or email us at aira.anupol@emirateslitfest.com or aliya.khan@emirateslitfest.com.