So the 2010 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is over, and behind the scenes we're busily figuring out what we did right, what could be done better, and above all who to invite for next year! We already have 18 authors signed up for 2011, with the dates set as March 8-12 - but there's plenty left to digest from this year's festival. For example, Dubai TV have uploaded this rather nice video, which includes interviews with Martin Amis and Robert Greene as well as some background on the Litfest itself.

Meanwhile, the international authors may have gone home (or on to the next stage of their tour) but the community side of the Litfest lives on via Twitter. The establishment of Twitter in the UAE over the last year or so has been quite extraordinary, and there is now an established, lively and friendly community at work in Dubai - a community who mobilised to support the Festival as photographers, bloggers or attendees of the sessions. That Twitter has also been embraced by a number of authors was a bonus, and has narrowed the divide between speakers and public - something that a festival of literature has to appreciate. So here's to openness and communication - look out for a more frequently updated blog and plenty of literary banter throughout the year, and March 2011 will be here before you know it!