As firm believers in the redemption and enlightenment that can be found in a book, the Emirates Literature Foundation has been working for more than two years with Dubai Penal and Correctional Institutions and Dubai Police to organise visits from Dubai-based and international authors to help inmates engage with books and the writing process.

After visiting the prison as part of this programme, two authors, Clare Mackintosh and Annabel Kantaria, saw an opportunity to develop this initiative into something more. They wanted to help the prisoners find their voices and tell their stories, and so the writer in residence project was born.

The authors spent a week visiting the inmates to help them find their voices. The result was published in a book called Tomorrow, I Will Fly, a collection of essays and personal reflections, written entirely by the men and women in Dubai Central Jail.

This book was launched at the 2020 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and simultaneously at the Dubai Central Jail.