More than 80 authors will be taking part in the main festival programme. Across 65 events, they will be discussing their work, debating the issues and occasionally treating us to a demonstration of their craft. As well as talks on the arts of prose, poetry and illustration, the 2010 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will see everything from musical performance to live cooking classes.

Bigger and better than the 2009 festival, the programme running from March 10th to 13th at Dubai Festival City will feature a truly international cast of authors coming from across Africa, America, Asia and Europe to join with a strong core of Arabic writers. In the spirit of cultural exchange, the live simultaneous translation that was such a success in 2009 will return, to allow all festival-goers the opportunity to appreciate all events.

Among the fiction authors confirmed to be joining us in March are Martin Amis, Mark Billingham, Chris Cleave, Isabel Fonseca, James Meek, Alexander McCall Smith, Jeffrey Deaver, RJ Ellory, Vikas Swarup and Yann Martel. Non-Fiction writers attending include Tim Butcher, Robert Greene, William Dalrymple and Margaret Macmillan. The full list of authors is in our Authors section.

Writers from the across the Arab world, such as Bahaa Taher, Youssef Ziedan, Leila Abouleila, Raja Shehadeh and Fadil Al Azzawi, will be joining their Emirati counterparts including Maryam Al Saedi, Sara Al Jarawan, Maha Gargash and Nujoom Al Ghanem.

Writers and illustrators of children’s and young adult fiction will be attending in force, with appearances by Jacqueline Wilson, Garth Nix, Darren Shan, Michelle Paver, Korky Paul and Tony Ross confirmed so far. You can find more details in our Children’s Authors section.

As ever with large events like this, there will be changes and late additions, so check back often. You can also subscribe to our email newsletter or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or FriendFeed. If you like what you see you can even become a Friend of the Festival and get discounts on tickets along with other benefits.