Streams Of Progress

Isobel was born and educated in Cambridge and came to Dubai in 1968 which has been her home ever since.Isobel taught at the Dubai Infants School for several years before her involvement in setting up Al Ittehad Private School and soon after co-founding Magrudy’s, a bookshop chain, in 1975.In addition to Magrudy’s, Isobel actively set about publishing children’s books in Arabic and English that have relevance to children from, and living in, the region. Together with the support of the Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum Foundation, Isobel initiated a new reading and teaching scheme in Arabic, called Bustan Al Qusas, which empowered teachers to write and use their own stories.In 2008 Isobel founded and is Director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word, bringing people of all ages together with authors from across the world to promote education, debate and, above all else, reading. The Festival won the Best Festival title at the Middle Ea