Event 010 Thursday 7 March 16:00-17:00Al Ras 2Best known as The Chocolate Man from the TV series Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory, Willie Harcourt-Cooze will be delighting young chocolate lovers by showing how much fun cooking with chocolate can be. A mouth-watering hour of chocolate joy for all participants!

Ages 6+

English

Event 011 Thursday 7 March 16:00-17:00Al MajlisWell over a million copies of Dominique de Saint-Mars’ books are sold every year – a publishing phenomenon indeed! In her books, Max and Lili help children to explore their fears and feelings and are loved by millions of French-speaking children all over the world.

Ages 5+

French

Event 028 Friday 8 March 10:00-11:00Al Baraha 2Join Roger McGough as he reads and draws his way through An Imaginary Menagerie and Lucky. Families and children of all ages will enjoy sharing Roger’s unique style of poetry and performance; the drawings are an entertaining bonus.

Ages 7+

English

Event 029 Friday 8 March 10:00-11:00Al Baraha 3Join Giles Andreae as he explores the World of Happiness in a session for all ages. The author of Giraffes Can’t Dance will take us on a journey to discover what is important in our world, and how values such as friendship, happiness, respect and teamwork can make life Fun! Giles Andreae is also known for his work as Purple Ronnie and Edward Monkton but today he will show how heroic Little Penguin and the Brave Elephant bring joy to us all.

All Ages

English

Event 036 Friday 8 March 11:30-12:30Al Baraha 3Science in Dubai has never been so horrible! Have plenty of fun as Nick Arnold talks about the scientists who put their skills to use for good or bad. Nick will be presenting outrageous hair-raising highlights from the best-selling Horrible Science series of books – get ready for evil experiments, scary stories and mad scientists. Amazing fun for all the family, with extra nastiness as a side order!

Ages 8 – 14

English

Event 045 Friday 8 March 13:30-14:30Al Baraha 2Philip Ardagh and his beard will be entertaining us with hilarious tales of the heroes and villains in his books, from mad Uncle Jack in the Eddie Dickens stories to Mr and Mrs Grunt, who are neither clean nor clever! Come along and hear the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize tell us about why the Grunts are in trouble, and how they found their son Sunny on a washing line. The extremely tall Mr Ardagh is guaranteed to make you laugh.

Ages 6 – 12

English

Event 046 Friday 8 March 13:30-14:30Al KhaymaSuzanne Jankowski brings us a feast of rhyme and fun with a trip back to the Jurassic Age to meet Rocky the diplodocus and his friend Ping the pterosaur. Ping shows us that being small does not stop you from being a hero as he helps Rocky to find a cunning plan to show the baddies just who is top dinosaur.

Ages 4+

English

Event 117 Friday 8 March 15:00-16:00Al Baraha 2Once you have marvelled at the skill which can produce models of the Burj Khalifa and an aeroplane from paper, join Robert Crowther as he demonstrates how it is all possible. An audience of all ages will enjoy watching the paper engineer extraordinaire produce amazing pop-ups and models.

English

Event 060 Friday 8 March 17:00-18:00Al Baraha 2Geraldine McCaughrean is an award-winning author whose books include Peter Pan in Scarlet, the acclaimed official sequel to J M Barrie’s Peter Pan. Join her on a wonderful imaginative journey to bring heroes and villains to life. Help her to create a new story and see where it leads.

Ages 9+

English

Event 076 Saturday 9 March 10:00-11:00Al Baraha 2The creator of Winnie the Witch is back in Dubai for some magical drawing sessions! Korky Paul, the energetic, interactive illustrator, welcomes you to the wonderful world of Winnie the Witch and all her friends: Professor Puffendorf, Captain Teachum, Mr Rufus Scumskin O’Parsley, Sanji and the Baker as well as the odd Digging Dog, Scratching Cat and even a Wishing Fish.

Magical things always happen when Korky puts his pens and paints to paper; come and see for yourself!

Ages 5 – 10

English

Event 077 Saturday 9 March 10:00-11:00Al Baraha 3Now in its second year, the Taaleem Poetry Award was introduced to recognise the poetic talents of young people in the UAE, and has yielded some wonderful writing in Arabic and English. The prizes will be presented by Roger McGough and Adel Khozam. Read the winning entries in Hero or Villain? available at the Festival.

Arabic & English

Event 081 Saturday 9 March 10:00-11:00Al MajlisJoin Maitha Al Khayat as she explores just what happens when a camel gets hungry and visits an Emirati household to find his favourite food. Come along and hear this wonderful story, share some food and have fun dressing up! Enjoy hearing the story in Arabic and English, and see how many new words you can learn.

Ages 4 +            

Arabic & English

Event 071 Saturday 9 March 11:30-12:30SurayaBest known for his crime novels, John Connolly is also a master storyteller for young people. The Book of Lost Things weaves together myth and fantasy to explore a boy’s journey to adulthood, creating a mysterious and haunting story. The magical world of whispering books, war and terrifying shadows are brought to life by John as he talks about this otherworld which 12 year old David encounters.

Ages 12+

English

Event 084 Saturday 9 March 11:30-12:30Al Baraha 2Debi Gliori is the creator of some wonderful picture books, including No Matter What and the Mr Bear series. Join her for a rollicking ride with the vegetarian hero of her latest book as he is bothered by a few fairy tale characters who all want to know What’s the Time, Mr Wolf? Along the way, Debi will tell us about her inspiration and how she creates her award winning stories.

Ages 4+

English

Event 085 Saturday 9 March 11:30-12:30Al Baraha 3More than 200 teams joined in the Chevron Readers’ Cup, with the first round deciding which eight teams made it through to the final in each age group. The prizes will be presented by two of the top children’s writers; join us to see which schools are the 2013 Readers’ Cup champions, following the hard-fought finals on 6th and 7th March.

Arabic & English

Event 086 Saturday 9 March 11:30-12:30Al RimalIn her Little Moslem series of books, Mennah Ibrahim explores the joys of Islam through twins Tarek and Jana.  Come along to learn what it means to be a Muslim, what are the five pillars of Islam and how and why we pray. Mennah will let Tarek and Jana guide us through all these questions.

Ages 6+

English

Event 097 Saturday 9 March 13:30-14:30Al RimalSing, dance and draw your way through Arabic rhymes with Taghreed Najjar. Parents and children will be captivated by the puppets and interactive play with Taghreed, who has produced books and CDs to keep the language alive and encourage families to enjoy the words and music. Those who do not speak Arabic are welcome to join in and also enjoy the rhymes in translation.

Ages 3 – 7

Arabic / English

Event 103 Saturday 9 March 15:00-16:00Al Baraha 3Tony Buzan explains his amazing system, teaching children that Mind Maps are the magic formula in the classroom: remembering facts and figures is a piece of cake, planning is a doddle and getting stuck for an answer is a thing of the past. He shows just how easy Mind Mapping is and how it can help everyone to remember things, concentrate better, come up with ideas and unlock the imagination. Let Tony take the stress out of learning!

Ages  9+

English

Event 104 Saturday 9 March 15:00-16:00Al MajlisCome along and hear Sahar Naja Mahfouz talk about Mirna and her sister Farah as they grow up and have fun together. Sahar has written many books in Arabic for children of all ages and enjoys bringing the Arabic language to life for young people. Hear how she finds inspiration for her writing and brings her characters to life with a warmth which is appealing to all.

Ages 10 – 14

Arabic

Event 112 Saturday 9 March 17:00-18:00Al Baraha 2Anthony Horowitz is one of the most celebrated writers in the UK for young people as well as adults. Join Anthony to hear how he finds inspiration for his action-packed stories and why it is sometimes not easy to know who is the hero and who is the villain. Learn how he manages to juggle journalism and script-writing for film and TV with producing his fast-paced books, and the inspirations, passions and experiences behind them.

Moderated by Paul Blezard.

Ages 12+

English