Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Palestine Festival of Literature participants crossing the Qalandia checkpoint. Photo by Muiz Anwar

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Contents
Overview Locations Participants PalFest team Funders Palestine Partners UK Partners 1. Supporting cultural life in Palestine The Festival Week Obstacles Sustainability: Year-Round Work Southbank Centre Edward Said Memorial Lecture Colombia University Remi Kanazi UK tour Tottenham Palestine Festival of Literature The Tempest

Partners

Objectives

2. To create active, nurturing, cultural links between Palestine and the UK

3. To renew media interest in the human situation in Palestine Author Experiences Meena Alexander Ursula Owen Bidisha Fawziah AbuAllan Alice Yousef

Student Experiences

Summary Plans for Palfest 2012 1. To initiate pan-Arab creative partnerships by hosting an Arab author led festival that runs within Gaza 2. To build upon PalFests education work 3. To complete rennovation works to PalFests Birzeit home 4. To redesign and develop PalFest website 5. To increase our annual funding Closing Statement

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Childrens Festival, Lajee Centre, Aida Camp, Bethlehem.

28
Writers 15 Palestinian 13 international

5
Universities

5
Evening events

200
Children attended the 1-day childrens festival

500
Students attended specialised workshops

600
Evening audience

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Overview
The 4th Palestine Festival of Literature took place from April 15th 21st Participants: Lorainne Adams Meena Alexander Suad Amiry Muiz Anwar Asmaa Azaizeh Bidisha Anne Chisholm DAM Geraldine DAmico Najwan Darwish Mark Gonzales Tarik Hamdan Nathalie Handal Mohammed Hanif Alaa Hlehel Ghada Karmi John McCarthy Madaa Moghraby Akram Musallem Tania Nasir Ursula Owen Richard Price Bassem Raad Ahdaf Soueif Rima Nasir Tarazi Taline Voskeritchian Alice Walker Gary Younge The PalFest team: Ahdaf Soueif (PalFest Founding Chair) John Horner (PalFest Treasurer) Omar Robert Hamilton (PalFest Producer) Najwan Darwish (Literature Consultant) Sophie DeWItt (Education Coordinator) Muiz Anwar (PalFest Head Designer) Murat Gokmen (Filmmaker) Reema Fadda (PalFest Researcher) FMcM (PR) Mustafa Mustafa (Press Liason, Palestine) Photographers Tamara Abdul Hadi Raouf Haj Yeyia Volunteers Sawsan Abu Qare Christina Baum Lena Fawzy Hassam Ghosheh Louise Hosking Mohamed Jaber Amani Shaheen Abeer Zaghari

The Festival toured to: Jerusalem Bethlehem Hebron Nazareth Nablus Ramallah Silwan

PalFest Board of Trustees Suad Amiry Alison Elliot Nathalie Handal John Horner (Treasurer) Brigid Keenan Fiona McMorrough Ahdaf Soueif Sheila Whitaker

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Mark Gonzales poetry workshop, Bethlehem University. Photo by Raouf Haj Yehia

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Partners
Primary Partners

Rana Sadik & Samer Younes Henning Mankell Zina Jardaneh Aref Hakki

Fadi Ghandour Ahdaf Soueif Philip Pullman Mr & Mrs El Gundi

Riad Kamal Mustafa Beidas Dale Egee Lady Antonia Fraser

Jerusalem The African Community Society Al Quds University Silwan Solidarity Group Nablus Project Hope Ya a Cultural Centre Nazareth The Arab Culture Association Ramallah The A M Qattan Foundation Birzeit University The Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre TEDxRamallah Bethlehem The Lajee Centre Dar Annadwa Hebron Hebron University The Hebron Rehabilition Committee Dar al-Kalima Bethlehem University The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music Palestine Writing Workshop Falastine al-Shabab Tamer Institute English PAL The Movenpick Hotel an-Najah University The Yasmine Hotel The Bookshop at the American Colony Hotel The Educational Bookshop The American Colony Hotel The Legacy Hotel The Jerusalem Hotel

UK Partners

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Students attending a PalFest workshop at Bethlehem University. Photo by Raouf Haj Yehia

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Objectives 1. Supporting cultural life in Palestine

The Festival Week PalFests aim of connecting international writers with Palestinian writers and audiences continues to o er an e ective and original platform for generating new connections whilst negotiating the di culties of life under the worlds longest military occupation. Our unique cultural events are as educational for the international participants as they are for students and audiences. Our key highlights from this year include: t
Our rst ever childrens literature festival in partnership with the Lajee Centre in Aida Camp, Bethlehem. t
Five evening events: in Jerusalem (with the African Community Society), Nazareth (with the Arab Culture Association), Nablus (with Project Hope at the Sheik Qassem Caf), Ramallah (with the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre) and Silwan (with the Silwan Solidarity Group in their Solidarity Tent). t
Educational workshops at ve universities: Bethlehem, Birzeit, Al-Khalil Hebron, an-Najah, al-Quds t
Creative writing workshops with children at the Ya a Cultural Centre (Balata Camp, Nablus). t
A talk with the leading Palestinian academic and founding member of the BDS movement, Omar Barghouti. t
Live music performances from hip-hop act, DAM, and Madaa Maghraby. t
Tours arranged for the participants included: a tour of Hebron Old City with the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee and the Apartheid Wall around Bethlehem with Reverend Mitri Raheb. Participants were also taken to visit to The Church of St Gabriel in Nazareth, al-Khalidiya Library in Jerusalem and Dar Al-Kalima College in Bethlehem. Obstacles t
Three members of the group were detained for four hours at point of entry to the country, the Allenby bridge. t
The opening night in Jerusalem was obstructed by a ying checkpoint erected by Israeli police at the entrance to the venue. t
This was the rst year that the group toured to Nazareth. Half our sta was detained for three hours at a checkpoint en route, two of them subjected to full body searches. t
Several Palestinian authors and friends, including PalFest board member and author, Suad Amiry, were unable to travel to events in Jerusalem or Nazareth, as they have West Bank ID cards.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Obstacles
t
The venue of the closing night, the Silwan Solidarity Tent, was attacked by IDF troops, with all surrounding roads closed. The group managed to walk to the tent, set up, and perform with the teargas hung in the air. | http://youtu.be/ADhr2ododX4 t
The group was also detained on leaving the country, and so missed their plane. PalFest had to buy ve extra plane tickets. Sustainability: Year-Round Work Palestine Writing Centre PalFest has been given the use of a 19-room historic building in Birzeit in which to establish a new writing centre. Together with Riwaq we are working to rehabilitate it, and establish a library, a reading room, a computer lab, collaborative working spaces and guest rooms. This is an enormous project and we are at the very beginning. The buildings rst resident is our sister organization, the Palestine Writing Workshop (PWW). Palestine Writing Workshop Many PalFest authors express a desire to remain connected and to help in some way. One way that this is channelled is that they return to Palestine to give extended writing workshops. They often even pay for their own travel. In 2011 Jeremy Harding, Nancy Kricorian and Rachel Holmes ew themselves to Palestine to teach extended, specialized classes. PWW have also organized workshops with Elmaz Abinader and Jeanie Keltner in Birzeit. E-workshops with students in Gaza have been led by Kamila Shamsie, Asmaa Azaizeh and Elmaz Abinader. BookBound Internships Internships were organized in top UK literary institutions in partnership with Project Hope. Walaa al-Qasiah, a young university graduate from al Khalil worked for six weeks at Bloomsbury Publishing - rotating through three key departments. She and everyone she worked with reported very favourably on this connection. Two students from Birzeit University, Sawsen Abu Qare and Amani Shaheen, interned at the SouthBank Centre during Poetry International. Due to a lack of funds we were unable to co-ordinate the Bloomsbury internship this year, but we hope to o er it again for 2012. With su cient funding there are several world-class internship opportunities that PalFest could facilitate. Letters from Palestine PalFest collaborated with the African Community Society in Jerusalem on the compilation of a book of letters to Palestine from around the world. PalFestivalians Nancy Kricorian, Remi Kanazi and Ahdaf Soueif all contributed letters. The book is due to be published in early 2012.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Objectives 2. To create active, nurturing, cultural links between Palestine and the UK
This year we collaborated on several high-pro le events with arts organisations in the UK, including: Southbank Centre Poetry International 2011 The Southbank Centres Poetry International festival focussed on the Arab World. Rachel Holmes, the Southbanks Head of Literature & Spoken Word, had travelled with PalFest 2010 and she invited several Palestinian artists to perform - including Suheir Hammad, Tashweesh, Remi Kanazi, Mourid and Tamim Barghouti. Solo events PalFest Board Member Suad Amiry discussed her new book, Nothing to Lose But Your LIfe. Palestinian academic and BDS campaigner Omar Barghouti debated Jonathan Freedland on the value of cultural boycotts. Palestinian author Izzeldine Abuelaish appeared with Ghada Karmi to discuss his book, Thou Shall Not Hate. This was a joint event partnered between PalFest and Jewish Book Week. Remi Kanazi UK tour Remi Kanazi toured the UK with his new book, Poetic Injustice, in November. PalFest was happy to be able to support a small part of the costs. Tottenham Palestine Literature Festival The rst Tottenham Palestine Literature Festival was held in September 2011. It received widespread publicity when schools were prevented from attending by the Education Minister . PalFest gave advice on Palestinian authors to invite. | http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23993812-michael-gove-bars-schools-frompalestinian-literary-festival.do Jericho House Theatre PalFest advised Jericho House Theatre Company on their September 2011 production of the Tempest. The world premiere was held in Jerusalem, before touring to three other cities in Palestine. The production then played for ve weeks at the Barbican. | http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/09/shakespeare-west-bankbritish-troupe Edward Said Memorial Lecture, Columbia University Ahdaf Soueif, Founder and Chair of PalFest, spoke at Columbia University about how Edward Saids call to use the power of culture against the culture of power is the foundational idea of PalFest.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Palestine Festival of Literature, Nablus to Nazareth. Photo by Tamara Abdul Hadi

Objectives 3. To renew media interest in the human situation in Palestine

Press articles appeared English in The Guardian, The Observer, the Economist, the New Yorker, the London Review of Books, Jadaliyya, Haaretz, Time Out Beirut and the Bookseller, as well as several authors blogs. In the Arabic press articles appeared in Al Quds, Qadita, Al Arab, Al Khaleej, Ashamas, Bokra, PANet and Arabs48.com. Gary Younge journalist for the Guardian and The Nation - wrote a piece for The Guardian directly following PalFest 2011. Alice Walker wrote a lengthy piece in The Observer about her experiences in Palestine. Author and broadcaster Bidisha has written a short book Beyond the wall: writing a path through Palestine, out March 2012, published by Seagull Books/Chicago University Press. Jeremy Harding has written a piece in the LRB about his return to Palestine to conduct a week-long creative writing workshop with the Palestine Writing Workshop. The campaign to keep PalFests partner and bookseller, Munther Famhi, of the Bookshop at the American Colony Hotel, from being deported, was covered in articles in the Economist, the Observer, the New Yorker, Reuters and Haaretz. Links to all the press can be found here: http://www.palfest.org/Press.html

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Ursula Owen, The Arab Culture Association, Nazareth. Photo by Tamara Abdul Hadi

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Meena Alexander leading a workshop at the Yaffa Cultural Centre. Photo by Tamara Abdul Hadi

Author Experiences:
Ursula Owen PalFest 2011 was a life-changing week for me. I have lived in the Middle East, and know quite a lot about it, but going round the West Bank and Jerusalem opened my eyes to things that were astonishing, shocking and moving, and have stayed with me ever since. Meena Alexander PalFest is a visionary enterprise, there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world that I know of, the radiant intimacy of writing, live audiences, bodies and souls touching, all in a land surviving under occupation.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Bidisha leading a workshop at Birzeit University. Photo by Tamara Abdul Hadi

Author Experiences:
Bidisha PalFest is a necessary, confronting and enlightening event for anyone with an interest in writing, freedom and human rights. It goes beyond speci c questions of Israel and Palestine and o ers a sometimes shocking insight into what happens - culturally, socially, psychologically, politically both to victims and perpetrators of military occupation. At the same time it forces participants to look at the reality of Palestinians lives and brings what might have seemed distant, theoretical, even uninteresting, into sharp focus. You will never be the same after you have met a generation of Palestinian kids who are growing up in concentration camps, who cant travel between cities without special permits and whose anger, distress and desire for freedom are palpable. For me it was a life-changing experience, my rst visit to a warzone. Alongside the pathology of occupation, however, what remains is the dynamism, positivity and creativity of Palestinians and their international supporters. I have rarely seen such strength and originality in the face of externally imposed limitations, heard such passionate words, met such life-embracing people or had such a good time. What I took from this was a sense of determination and resilience, not destruction. This is why Palfest is so important: it is a celebration of the power of culture in the face of the culture of power.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

John McCarthy leading a workshop at BirZeit University. Photo by Tamara Abdul Hadi

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Student Experiences:
Fawziah AbuAllan: For the fourth consecutive year, BZU took a day to host the Palestine Festival for literature. Many poets, authors, and other literary gures from abroad were invited so that they could share with us their experience through the workshops that were held. I was lucky for having this chance to meet one of the authors in person, John McCarthy, who wrote about his trauma after being captured in Lebanon and held as a hostage for ve years in Beirut, a prisoner in Lebanon. After John introduced himself, he asked us to write about our own traumas, and how we felt about them. I wrote about my brothers death. I couldnt nish reading it because I couldnt help myself but to cry. It was really emotional for all of us because we shared personal information we didnt know about each other. We had something in common; all of us have this kind of memory which makes us fall apart whenever we remembered or talked about it. After he heard our stories, he was impressed or in his own words, amazed. I remember him saying, Im sorry, Im just a journalist and you are the real poets! We were happy to hear this, because his words were just sublime, exactly what we needed to hear whenever we felt tired and frustrated by life under occupation. He gave us the motive to write and to continue writing what we began because Palestinians are the only ones who can write about what is considered as The Real Story, away from the banal media coverage. This unforgettable experience will be always in my heart and mind because I took something precious from it: his words, advice, and motivation.

Alice Yousef: Palfest, the Palestine Festival of Literature is one event that I wait for every year as it graces Palestine with its presence in April. I have been passionately waiting for PalFest this year, as I had an amazing experience with PalFest last year. It happened that this year PalFest turned out to be more than rewarding, starting from my experience with two workshops at Birzeit University and ending on the ground at Al-Sakakini Cultural Center. On Monday, PalFest gave amazing workshops for the BZU English majors.. it was very much a gratifying experience as we got to share our writings with famous authors who in turn shared their experience, writings and books with us. This year attending the workshops at university was di erent, because sadly there was no reading. The workshops however were a natural ow or creativity. Yet with no reading at university I craved for good literature. Having heard of a reading at Al-Sakakini Cultural Center, I decided not to miss it and was glad I didnt. The reading opened in a small room, crowded with faces, some familiar..others not so much. Hearing the writers and intellectuals speak was an experience by itself, empowering and inspiring for an emerging writer/poet as . It was much later that I could take it all in, as I am still over the clouds for the chance that was handed to me: talking to one of my role-models in writing Alice Walker, who was very down to earth and executes passion for life and writing . Being there at PalFest still leaves a mark on my life, thats why Ill still wait for PalFest next year.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Palestine Festival of Literature participants in Nazareth. Photo by Tamara Abdul Hadi

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Summary
As governments across the world fail to make any signi cant steps towards securing justice for the Palestinians the burden has fallen on civil society to take action. PalFest is one of many initiatives that is proud to be grassroots, independent and civilian. We are part of a global push to enhance connections between people, to generate ideas between communities and to realise the great potential of actions without governments. PalFest 2011 was our most intimate festival yet. Because of our very limited funds we had to scale down our programming and participant list for 2011, but the impact on the participants and audiences was as signi cant as ever. The festivals success can be measured by the large audience attendance at the events, our continued partnerships with artists and arts organizations in Palestine and the UK and the extremely positive feedback we received from both participants and students. Another measure of the festivals success is the ferocity with which the Israeli Army tried and failed to prevent our closing night from taking place. This was the rst year we worked with an Education Coordinator. This enabled a more focussed approach to our educational programming, with 26 writing workshops taking place across ve universities and three writing workshops held in Balata refugee camp. We also launched our rst ever childrens literature festival, a one-day event at the Lajee Centre, which was a tremendous success and is an event that we are keen to expand in the future. For this years programming we worked closely with our Literary Curator, renowned poet Najwan Darwish. He was an invaluable addition to the team and we look forward to working with him on our next festival. Reema Fadda acompanied us as a volunteer/researcher and she will join the team in December as the new festival organiser. PalFest is now a well-regarded xture in the international festival calendar and it has acquired a strong reputation for its artistic excellence and its contribution to Palestines vibrant cultural scene. We are quickly becoming the point of enquiry for Western organisations looking for Palestinian connections. In order to build our capacity to advise on literary programming in the UK and internationally we need more money for facilities, to include o ce materials and consultancy fees. This years festival would not have been possible without the support and generosity of our friends in the UK and Palestine who helped us bridge the gap in our funding. We would like to thank PalFest board member and author Suad Amiry, and PalFest friend and mentor, Islah Jad, who hosted dinners for our participants, Raja and Penny Shehadeh and Reema Hamami for their thoughtful donations, and the several organisations who donated their o ce facilities and meeting space. We would like to give a special thanks to the A.M. Qattan foundation for acting as our banker and for donating their banner stands for festival events, and to Riwaq for their amazing gift of the shared rehabilitation of the Birzeit building which will allow us to host writers, cultural activities and writing workshops in the near future. To build upon our previous successes and to remain dynamic we need sustainable funding for 2012 and beyond.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Palestine Festival of Literature panel, The Arab Culture Association, Nazareth. Photo by Tamara Abdul Hadi

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Plans for Palfest 2012

2012 will be PalFests ve year anniversary. To mark our fth year we would like to hold an Arab author led festival in Gaza. As we have found it is impossible to have the festival travel from the West Bank to Gaza via Erez, we will run events in 2012 simultaneously. We will travel with our traditional bus through Gaza, while we continue our education work across the rest of Palestine. PalFest will hold a childrens festival in our new building in Birzeit. Our 5 main focus areas for 2012 are to: 1. To initiate pan-Arab creative partnerships by hosting an Arab author led festival that runs within Gaza It has been a longstanding aim of PalFest to connect international and Arab-speaking authors with audiences in Gaza. Given the changes across the Arab world, we believe activities that foster a strong re-emerging Arab culture in the region are the most useful cultural contribution we can make to our on-going pro-democracy revolutions. As the Rafah border with Gaza is now meant to be open, we believe it is important to celebrate the historic and close relationship between Egypt and Palestine. PalFest aims to help protect the natural ow of culture and ideas that have always enriched both Egypt and Palestine, that ow for which Gaza has always been the main artery. Meanwhile PalFests links with the West Bank continue to deepen as participants return to teach, to live and to write. Soon our building in Birzeit will be fully equipped to host them. 2. To build upon PalFests education work The Palestine Festival of Literature aims to extend the scale and reach of its educational programming by hosting a series of writer-led workshops throughout the year, which will be run by the Palestine Writing Workshop. Our aim is to diversify the writing programmes on o er within Palestine. We are also increasing our childrens education work. The Palestine Writing Workshop has implemented a weekly creative-writing workshop for children called The Cave of Imagination but we need more resources to ensure that the quality and variety of the work we o er is of a highstandard. 3. To complete renovation works to PalFests Birzeit Home We are already running creative writing programmes out of Beit Nimeh, our building in Birzeit. However, more work needs to be done to the building so that the space can host writers-inresidence, larger public events and serve as a creative, collaborative hub for students and young artists in need of collective space.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Plans for Palfest 2012

4. To redesign and develop the PalFest website It is important to redevelop the PalFest website ahead of our 2012 festival to ensure e cient distribution of the festival content in English and Arabic; to attract new audiences who are unable to access the live festival events; to make the festival content more interactive; and to ensure the format is easily accessible. 5. To increase our annual funding In order to deliver our 2012 festival we need to increase our funding to 150,000. This will give us the nancial sustainability and exibility to deliver a world-class literary festival in Gaza, ensure the continuation and expansion of our educational work in the West Bank and deliver the PalFest message in the UK, the US and beyond. The increase in funding would also enable us to hire a festival organizer and increase our administrative support to ensure the smooth running of the festival. We are seeking to diversify our funding streams and implement innovative approaches to fundraising that will help us to reach our target. For example, one idea is to produce a small publication of writing on Palestine by PalFest participants for public sale.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Sheikh Qassem Cafe, Nablus. Photo by Raouf Haj Yehia

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

Closing Statement
2011 has been a year that shook the world. For the rst time in many years we look to the future with hope, with excitement, with anticipation. We have seen how years of persistent, committed and dedicated work can, in an instant, erupt into a mass movement, how a di erent world can materialize in a moment. For too long the Arab world has been plagued by injustice and repression. Palestine stands at the centre of it all, and there are deep similarities across the region - and its perhaps in art and culture that we can see the creative feature that is unique to the Arab world: The dialectic between similarity and diversity across both geography and time. We share a long and varied history, of good and bad fortune. But what matters now is that our hopes for the future are shared, are common to us all. Tunisia is leading the way. We hope Egypt is close behind. But we know that none of our revolutions, none of our freedoms will be complete, without the freedom of the Palestinians. PalFest is committed to being part of the vibrant cultural life of Palestine, to supporting it, enhancing it, and helping it nd its friends and partners across the world.

Palestine Festival of Literature Report 2011

The old market, al-Khalil/Hebron. Photo by Muiz Anwar