The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature may be drawing closer and closer, but that doesn't mean that we here at the Emirates Literature Foundation haven't had the time to keep tabs on the pulse of the literary world. Here's what's been on our mind, this week.

Looking for more Arab authors so you can expand your reading list? Then you're in luck. The Emirates Literature Foundation has partnered with Google to increase the visibility of Arab authors online by publishing 15,000 pages on Arab authors in English and Arabic by December 2022. Titled Kateb Maktub, the project is currently looking for volunteers to become Wikipedia editors. So if you head to the Kateb Maktub website there's a section that explains how you can add information if you're a publisher, a published author, a reader, or just a helpful global citizen who wants to get Foundation-Wikipedia certified training.

Sad news for spy novel fans as noted author John le Carre passed away from pneumonia this week. Following the loss of the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold author, tributes began pouring in. Beyond the creation of one George Smiley — an antidote for the likes of James Bond — le Carre was also known for the somewhat interesting titles he almost gave his books, as this article goes on to discuss. 

What does Stephen King think of the adaptations of his work? Well, the maestro of horror ranked the many TV and film adaptations of his own books in the New York Times this week, ahead of the upcoming debut of the television adaptation of his classic The Stand. So while we already know his well-publicised opnions on The Shining, read on to find out what he thinks of other takes on his books — including It, Under the Dome, and Doctor Sleep. 

Baghdad-based bookworms take note! The Iraq International Book Fair kicks off with one million books on display, and will run until December 19.

Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land is on track to become the best-selling presidential memoir of all time after selling 3 million copies in the first month of publication. But he isn't the bestselling family member in the Obama household just yet as he’s still lagging far behind his wife Michelle’s 8 million sales of Becoming.

Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land is on track to become the best-selling presidential memoir of all time after selling 3 million copies in the first month of publication. But he isn't the bestselling family member in the Obama household just yet as he’s still lagging far behind his wife Michelle’s 8 million sales of Becoming.