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FORTY MINUS ONE: Celebrating the UNESCO World Book Capital's choice of Beirut for 2009-2010, the Hay Festival of Literature & Art has launched Beirut39, an initiative to choose 39 Arab writers under 40 and produce a compilation of their short stories in four languages. On 4-7 March 2010, the selected writers will participate in a series of activities within the city, with discussions on such topics as the Arab world, writing, and writing about the Arab world. Writers can be nominated by publishers, critics, themselves, or the audience (through www.beirut39.com),www.beirut39.com),while headed by the Egyptian novelist Alaa El-Aswany (of The Yaqoubian Building fame), the jury also includes the Lebanese poet Abdu Wazen, the Lebanese novelist Alwiyah Subh, and the Omani poet Said Al-Rahbi. The Hay Festival is a 22-year-old institution promoting writing and reading throughout the world, and Beirut39 follows in the footsteps of Bogota39, which promoted 39 Latin American writers out of a total of 250 nominees in 2005. photo: courtesy of the Hay Festival website