It’s the season for romance, and what could be more romantic than learning how to make a fairy-tale ending come true? The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (1-9 March 2019) is offering a unique opportunity to learn where the line between fiction and reality is drawn in love and romance.
We all want a happy ending at the end of our stories, whether its fiction or real-life – but what should that ‘happy ever after’ ideal look like? What makes a ‘happy ever after’ in fiction feel real and not contrived? And what does science say about the reality of finding fairy-tale endings in our own lives? Is ‘happy ever after’ just a myth, or is it the pot of gold to be found at the end of your own personal rainbow? This session at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature gets to the heart of the matter with three different takes on the art of writing the happy ending.
Sandhya Menon is the author of YA Rom Coms When Dimple Met Rishi and From Twinkle, With Love, and blames a steady diet of Bollywood movies for her obsession with happily-ever-afters. She is unapologetic about the need for her stories to end on a romantic high.
Keith Stuart’s bestselling debut novel, A Boy Made of Blocks, was inspired by his real-life relationship with his autistic son. His second novel, Days of Wonder, is also about family relationships, with the happily-ever-afters acted out at the local theatre, providing a lifeline for Tom and his chronically-ill daughter. It’s a story about family, love and finding magic in everyday life.
Ty Tashiro is an author, psychologist and relationship expert, known for his expertise on relationship breakups, enhancing long-term relationships and online dating. He has been a speaker at TED@NYC, Harvard Business School, MIT’s Media Lab and the American Psychological Association. Tashiro’s The Science of Happily Ever After explains what truly matters in our real-life quest for enduring love. Don’t miss his advice if you wear your world-weary heart on your sleeve.
The ‘Happy Ever After’ session takes place on 8 March 2019 at 2pm at the Festival’s home, the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City. For full details and to buy tickets, visit emirateslitfest.com
The Festival programme is brimming with sessions to engage, entertain and inform, with topics encompassing fiction, history, current affairs, food, health, travel, biography, business and more. There are opportunities to appreciate poetry, take part in creative writing workshops and generally indulge in intelligent and articulate discussion on a wide range of topics. Sessions appeal to all ages and nationalities, featuring outstanding authors, thinkers and opinion formers.
The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is held in partnership with Emirates Airline and the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated authority for heritage, arts, and culture. It is held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai.
