A boycott of the inaugural Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature in Dubai is looming after the launch of a book featuring a gay relationship was canned by Festival organisers. Banned book: Margaret Attwood Canadian novelist and Booker Prizewinner Margaret Attwood is the first to publicly pull out of the Festival after The Gulf Between Us, a romantic comedy by British author Geraldine Bedell, was excluded by Festival director Isobel Abulhoul. "I knew her work could offend certain cultural sensitivities. I did not believe that it was in th Festival's long-term interests to acquiesce to [the] publisher's request to launch the book at the first festival of this nature in the Middle East," Abulhoul said.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 21st February 2009 - 9:39pm