Abulhoul wins OBE in NY Honours List

The director of the Emirates Airline-sponsored Festival of Literature was on Saturday named as a recipient of an OBE in the UK's New Year Honours List. Mrs Isobel Frances Abulhoul is rewarded with the award for services to education and British literature in the UAE. Abuhoul, who first arrived in the UAE more than 40 years ago, was also the co-founder of Dubai-based retail and education business Magrudy's. Now she is in charge of the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word, bringing people of all ages and backgrounds together with authors from across the world to promote education, debate and love of reading and writing. The 2012 Festival will be held in March at the InterContinetal Hotel Event Centre, Dubai Festival City and The Cultural and Scientific Association, Al Mamzar. More than 130 authors signed up to take part in 2011, representing 26 nationalities, and this year authors such as Kate Adie, Jeremy Bowen, Chetan Bhagat, Michael Portillo and Terry Wogan have been confirmed. Other Gulf-based Brits included in the New Year Honours List are Andrew Richard Dingley Brown, who won an OBE for services to UK/Qatar business relations, He is the executive vice president for oil major Shell. Also collecting an OBE is James Nicholas Geoffrey Bowden, lately Ambassador to Bahrain. Diplomat John Hamish Barclay - a Second Secretary in Kuwait - is awarded an MBE. Elsewhere in the list, veteran entertainer Ronnie Corbett and golf champions Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy were all been recognised. Corbett, 81, famed for his monologues on the BBC's Two Ronnies, becomes a CBE for services to entertainment. An OBE goes to Open winner Clarke while McIlroy, 22, the youngest US Open winner for 88 years, becomes an MBE. Actress Helena Bonham Carter is made a CBE and broadcaster Lorraine Kelly is appointed an OBE for her charity work. Sky News war correspondent Alex Crawford, 49, praised for her reporting from Libya this year, is appointed an OBE for services to broadcast journalism. Apple's Jonathan Ive, the designer behind the iPod and iPhone is made a Knight Commander (KBE). Now living in the US, the east London-born 44-year-old began working for the company in 1992.