The organisers of the first-ever international Dubai literary festival announced on Saturday they will host a debate on censorship, after a row last week over censorship and freedom of speech. The Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature (EAIFL) faced an international literary storm last week after news that The Gulf Between Us, a romantic novel by Britain's Geraldine Bedell, was rejected by the festival.
Canadian Booker-prize winner Margaret Atwood as a result pulled out of the festival, but said on Saturday she regretted her decision, which she took based on the belief Bedell's book had been banned. "Having leapt into this dog's breakfast, I have it all over my face," Atwood wrote in Saturday's Guardian newspaper.
She is now contemplating the idea of appearing at the event next Saturday through a video conference. "I am delighted that Margaret Atwood has reconfirmed her support for ... the EAIFL at which authors from more than 20 countries will be present," festival director Isobel Abulhoul said in a statement posted on EAIFL's website.
The debate next Saturday will include a panel of international writers who will discuss the issues of censorship and cultural misconceptions about the acceptable limits of freedom of expression. It is a joint venture between EAIFL and PEN, the literary anti-censorship organisation, of which Atwood is vice-president.
According to English-language daily The National, the decision to stage the debate followed pressures on the festival's organisers for excluding Bedell's book. The dispute started last Monday, after media reports said a "ban" had been imposed on Bedell's novel because it features a homosexual sheikh. Head of the National Media Council Ibrahim al-Abed said the book had never been banned.
"It's not our policy to ban any book, unless it's crude pornography or its contemptuous of religion," he told Friday's edition of The National. Dubai last week was the scene of another international controversy, after it denied an entry visa for Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer, who was taking part in the Dubai Open tournament.
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) announced on Friday a 300,000 dollar fine for the tournament's part in the controversy, the largest penalty the WTA has ever imposed upon a member tournament.