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The Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature session on censorship did not actually discuss the novel that prompted the debate, according to reports from the Dubai-based event.
The event, held in partnership with International PEN, was arranged after author Margaret Atwood pulled out of the show because of reports stating that Geraldine Bedell's new novel, The Gulf Between Us, had been passed over from the event because it featured a gay character. Atwood later agreed to attend the festival and take part in the discussion on censorship via a video-link claiming that she had been misled by reports of a "ban".
Claire Armitstead, writing in the Guardian (from Dubai), wrote that the "hastily arranged censorship debate on Saturday morning, involving nine writers from around the world, all of whom tiptoed around an issue which became known to participants at the four-day festival as 'the elephant in the room'." Armitstead added: "Though nobody in the censorship debate was prepared to confront the beast head on, their circumlocutions were both interesting and revealing."
In a separate session, reported by Gulf News, Atwood said: "We rallied round a flag that wasn't there. An independent festival has to exercise its own right and judgement - it's not the same as banning."
Meanwhile, the Khaleej Times, reported that the three-day Festival of Literature had not only seen brisk sales but also attracted huge crowds of book lovers and followers of serious literature.