Today is World Book Day (except in the UK and Ireland, where it took place on 1 March).

It is also the 80^th anniversary of the Index Translationum, the international bibliography of translations.

The UNESCO website has a number of suggestions on how to celebrate the day, as well as a link to the World Digital Library, a collection of significant materials from around the world, available free online.

A video from BBC News about publishing trends in the Middle East, with more authors choosing to self-publish. Featuring Emirates LitFest 2012 authors Alexander McNabb (Olives and the forthcoming Beirut) and Dania El Kadi (Summer Blast), and Narain Jashanmal of Jashanmal Books.

Bestselling author and longstanding Emirates LitFest supporter Mark Billingham talks about his forthcoming novel in this video from Little, Brown.

UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum visited Emirates LitFest headquarters Dar Al Adaab during Sikka Art Fair.

Sheikh Mohammed viewed paintings and craftwork by Emirati artists and students from UAE schools, before touring Dar Al Adaab with Festival Director Isobel Abulhoul and adding his signature to our authors' canvas. Sheikh Mohammed expressed his interest in how the international authors and speakers - coming from 30 countries - found their experience of the Festival and their interactions with Emirati authors.

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed.

The Radio Newsday workshop with Max Easterman and Suzanne Radford was a new venture for the LitFest - a day-long class on producing radio news.

After a briefing by the instructors and an 'editorial meeting', the class were deployed in teams to cover various festival events, mingle with the crowd and put together a two-minute news story about the goings-on at the festival. Then the class returned to a suite in the InterContinental Hotel, converted into a radio studio where they could edit their news stories using professional equipment, creating six 1.5 to 2.5 minutes pieces.

The five finished stories cover the LitFest's cookery strand, a performance by JESS students at the Fringe Festival, the Arabic language, what makes an icon, and the Oxford University Press Story Writing Competition.

You can listen to the stories over on the Dubai Eye Blog.

John Agard

Imtiaz Dharker

Footage from our Opening Night on 6 March 2012, which also featured Terry Wogan in conversation.

For more video footage from Emirates LitFest 2012 check out our YouTube Channel.

Michael Portillo: Democracy on Trial - a snippet of one of 2012's most popular sessions.

More clips of Emirates LitFest 2012 are on their way at our YouTube channel!

Tom Rob Smith, author of Child 44, The Secret Speech and Agent 6, spoke about his research into Soviet history and crime during our Crime Panel on Thursday. He has another session today at 10am.

Today is International Women's Day, and to celebrate we are hosting talks by a number of influential women, today and throughout the Festival.

At 4.30pm today, Judith Hornok will head up a panel discussing what it takes to be a woman in the 21st Century. Judith is the author of Modern Arab Women: The New Generation of the United Arab Emirates, and the panel includes Huda Al Matroushi, Azza Al Qubaisi & Nahla Al Rostamani, three of the fascinating and influential women she interviewed for the book.

Following this at 6pm, Maryam Behnam will speak about her eventful life in a talk titled Little Miss Earthquake, or Zelzelah Bibi. Born in 1921 (the year of the earthquake in Iran that inspired her nickname), she has at various points been an author, public speaker, advocate for women’s empowerment, diplomat, cultural authority and mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. In 1979 she joined Gulf News as a writer; currently she is senior adviser to the Dubai International Women’s Club (DIWC), one of the oldest women’s clubs in the country.

Other inspiring women appearing throughout the festival include Irish travel legend Dervla Murphy (Friday) and renowned Egyptian feminist author Nawal El Saadawi.

A short snippet of Terry Wogan's session at the Emirates Litfest Opening Night on Tuesday 6 March 2012.

Our YouTube channel also features some highlights from the Opening Ceremony earlier that day. More footage from the 2012 Festival will be uploaded throughout the week.