Palestine Festival of Literature

2012 Report

Gaza-Zaytoun by Muiz
 Palestine Festival of Literature
Report 2011

Contents
Overview Trustees
Participants Last minute apologies
PalFest team Gaza team
Thanks

Network Partners
Friends

Objectives 1. To Support Cultural Life The Festival Week

in Palestine Deepening the Festival’s
Educational Programme
Obstacles
Year-Round Work

2. To Make Connections Between Cairo

Palestine and the Outside World London
Future Events
Independent Events

Quotes

Media

Summary

Plans for PalFest 2013

Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Overview
The fifth Palestine Festival The PalFest Team: Gaza Team
of Literature took place in
Gaza from the 4th to the 8th Ahdaf Soueif Abdulrahman Abu Nahel
May 2012, with parallel events Founding Chair Mohammed Abu Samra
happening in the West Bank. Abdulla al Gamal
John Horner Rana Baker
PalFest Board of Trustees Treasurer Adel el Borbar
Yasmine el Khoudary
Suad Amiry Omar Robert Hamilton Mahmoud Hammad
Alison Elliot Producer Samer Mohamed al-Fasees
Nathalie Handal Alaa Salamah
John Horner (Treasurer) Reema Fadda Intima’ El Sodoudi
Brigid Keenan Organiser Eman Sourani
Fiona McMorrough
Ahdaf Soueif (Chair) Najwan Darwish Special Thanks
Sheila Whitaker Literature Adviser Dr. Haidar Eid

Participants: Muiz Thanks

Art Director
Alaa Abd el-Fattah Afaq Publishing House
Maya Abu el-Hayat Palestine Writing Workshop Asmaa Abdalla
Selma Dabbagh Education Refaat el-Areer
Najwan Darwish Radwa Ashour
Sahar el-Mougy Nada Hegazy Bab al-Thaqafah
Eskenderella 2012 Book Editor Al Balsam Publishing House
Amr Ezzat Sawsan Bashier & Mostafa Al Sheikh
Amin Haddad Nariman Youssef BQFP
Tarik Hamdan Asmaa Abdalla Sherif Boraie
Manal Hassan Translation Dale Egee
Rachel Holmes Muhammed Hashim
Jafra Ola Anan Nada Hegazy
Khaled al Khamissi Ayah Bashir Sonallah Ibrahim
Jamal Mahjoub Hanan Abu Nasser Henning Mankell
Khaled Najar Gaza Coordinators Merit Publishing House
Mohana Rajakumar Philip Pullman
Youssef Rakha Mai Saad Balsam Saad
Bee Rowlatt Cairo Coordinator Dar al-Shorouk
al-Salam Bahaa Taher
Imad Sayrafi FMCM
Abd el-Rahim el-Sheikh PR
Ahdaf Soueif
Nariman Youssef Murat Gökmen
Film
Last minute apologies: Sarah Collinson
Hyam Yared Sound
Suad Amiry
Nathalie Handal Salma Said
Susan Abulhawa Lana Shamma
Cairo & Gaza Team
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Network
Partners

RANA SADEK RIAD

SAMER YOUNIS KAMAL

ZINA
JARDANEH

SUHAIL ABDALLA
SIKHTIAN FOUNDATION

PENNY JOHNSON RITU MENON

RAJA SHEHADEH WOMEN UNLIMITED

Friends

Palestine
Writing
Workshop
Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Objectives
1. To Support Cultural Life in Palestine

The Festival Week

The central event in PalFest’s calendar is our annual literary festival. Making connections between
Palestinian artists and students under occupation and the rest of the world is a central PalFest
mandate.

2012 saw us hold our first festival in Gaza. Our group of writers, bloggers, journalists and musicians
crossed over the Rafah border from Egypt to hold workshops, cultural meetings and live events in
Gaza. Since its inception in 2008 PalFest had repeatedly tried, but never managed to reach Gaza from
the West Bank because of the restrictions imposed by the Israeli Occupation. To finally hold PalFest in
Gaza we felt was a tremendous achievement.

We chose to focus on Gaza in 2012 in an effort to pressure the Egyptian government to fully open
the Rafah crossing and in the belief that an emphasis on pan-Arab partnerships is crucial fuel for the
revolutions sweeping the Arab world.

Key highlights during festival week included:

t
Three free public events: author talks at Golden Media Centre and the historic Dar el-Basha, and
a packed-out concert headlined by Egyptian musicians Eskenderella at Rashad al-Shawa Cultural
Centre.

t
Educational seminars with students across four universities: al Aqsa University, al-Azhar
University, Gaza University and the Islamic University.

t
Creative-writing workshops held over 3-days with high-school students from across five
government schools, including: al-Karmel Boys School, Yasser Arafat Boys School, Palestine Boys
School, Dalal al-Mughrabee Girls School and Balkis Girls School. These workshops were held in
partnership with Reach Out to Asia and we will continue to run a series of writing workshops
during the next academic year.

t
Public meetings were held with bloggers, representatives of civil society, Trade Unions, feminist
organisations, the BDS Campaign, the Shababeek youth network and hunger-striking protestors.

t
Visits arranged for the participants included: the Rachel Corrie Centre in Rafah Camp, the
al-Asriyyeh Centre in Jabalia Camp and the hunger-strikers’ sit-in in Gaza City.

t
A closing event was held in Cairo at the Rawabet Theatre to report back on the participants’
experiences and possible future actions and collaborations.

t
PalFest brought in over 1000 books that were donated by various publishing houses and authors
that were given to several youth centres and institutions in Gaza.
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Objectives
This year’s West Bank programme of activities was organised by our sister organisation, the Palestine
Writing Workshop.

The highlights included:

t
A literary evening with Rachel Holmes, Bee Rowlatt, Maya Abu el-Hayat, Abd el-Rahim al-Sheikh
and Imad Sayrafi at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre in Ramallah

t
A children’s day festival was held in the village of Abwein

t
Book clubs and creative writing workshops were held with our two visiting authors, including
e-workshops with emerging writers in Gaza and an intensive 9-hour workshop.

Deepening the Festival’s Educational Programme

This was the first year that PalFest extended creative writing workshops to high-school children.
Our new partnership with Reach Out to Asia enabled us to expand PalFest’s teaching programme
to include schoolchildren. The 3-day workshop focused on a wide range of topics including poetry,
translation and blogging. Based on the feedback we received from the students we will be holding a
“how to blog” session and leading a session on creative writing teaching methods for teachers.

VIDEO: http://tinyurl.com/9dfxpcr

PalFest continued its tradition of partnership with Palestinian Universities and ran seminars and
workshops with each of the major universities in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, in Ramallah extended workshops were run in PalFest’s Palestine Writing House in Birzeit,
where the majority of our year-round activities are held.

Obstacles

This year’s festival in Gaza posed significantly different challenges to those we have previously faced
in the West Bank.

We received our travel permits from the Egyptian Foreign Office only one day before the festival,
which prevented festival organizers from travelling to Gaza ahead of the participants.

Last-minute cancellations from authors posed challenges to our planned workshop programme.
PalFest’s literary advisor Najwan Darwish was not granted the required permit by the Israeli
government to join the festival from Haifa.

Our closing-night event was shut down by police. Three hours later, the Chief of Police visited the
participants to officially apologize, stating it was an “individual error”.

In the coming years we will find a way of running a full festival across all of historical Palestine.
For now, though, the combination of borders, walls, checkpoints and visa restrictions continue to
constrain us.
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Objectives

Year-round work

The Palestine Writing House & The Palestine Writing Workshop

The Palestine Writing House is the new home of our sister organization, the Palestine Writing
Workshop (PWW). In the past year, PWW has run eight in-depth creative workshops with students.
These were led by Randa Abdel Fattah, Elmaz Abinader, Jeremy Harding, Jeanie Keltner, Nancy
Kricorian, John McAndrew, Rachel Holmes and Bee Rowlatt.

PWW has trained several interns, ran poetry evenings in Ramallah, started book clubs across the West
Bank and hosts weekly children’s storytelling sessions.

Books to Ramallah

Because of the prohibitive taxation system imposed on Palestinians in the West Bank it is nearly
impossible for books to be traded through regular channels, and so there is a terrible shortage of
printed material in the West Bank. We are building a library in the Palestine Writing House by sending
books in with individuals whenever possible. We have at least 2,000 so far.

Books to Gaza

We are establishing a system of transfer with the Rachel Corrie Centre in Rafah to keep a regular
stream of books running from Cairo to Gaza.

Website

With support from Arts Council England we were able to launch PalFest’s new bilingual website
ahead of this year’s festival.

The website is now better organized, more easily updatable and – crucially – in Arabic and English.

Long-term plans for the site include profiling and translating new literary talent from across Palestine
and the diaspora, as well as developing an online space for critical feedback between young writers
and more established authors. It will also offer a space to advertise new writing competitions and
projects that help to foster links between Palestine and the international cultural community.

www.palfest.org
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Objectives
2. To Make Connections Between Palestine and the Outside World

Forging meaningful international connections has always been one of the roles PalFest plays. This
year there were PalFest events in Cairo and London.

Cairo

The closing night of the 2012 festival was held in al-Rawabet Space for Performing Arts. It took the
form of a report from festival participants to the Cairo audience – telling them what they had seen,
what they had heard and how they had been advised that citizens in Cairo can help their neighbours
in Gaza.

London

Selma Dabbagh in conversation with Karma Nabulsi

2012 festival participant Selma Dabbagh discussed her debut novel, Out of It, with Palestinian writer
and academic Karma Nabulsi at the London School of Oriental and African Studies.

This is Jerusalem: a Night of Poetry and Music

Renowned poet and PalFest’s literature advisor, Najwan Darwish, performed a selection of his poems
alongside the multi-talented musician Basel Zayed. The night was hosted at the Free Word Centre
and opened with the premiere screening of Murat Gökmen’s film on the 2011 Festival.

Future Events

A small 5th birthday celebration was held at London’s Free Word Centre, featuring performances
from Remi Kanazi and Rafeef Ziadah and moving speeches from previous PalFest participants
recounting their experiences of the festival.

Independent Events

Muiz Anwar

We are thrilled that Muiz Anwar, PalFest’s Art Director since 2009, held his debut solo UK show this
year which headlined and opened London’s Nour Festival, featuring some of his artwork for PalFest.
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Quotes:

Ola Anan PalFest Gaza Coordinator

“The feeling that someone remembers you and loves you and stands in solidarity with you lifts your
morale sky-high … no matter who gave them permission to enter. You cannot imagine how much
difference this visit will make to us here in Gaza.”

Aya Al Ghof Creative Writing Workshop Student

“The [creative writing workshop] woke something in me that had been asleep, or that’s put to sleep,
or ignored…”

Tweets

@ranagaza I feel Egypt so present in my heart. Very heartwarming and touching talks beyond words.
#PalFestGaza

@ranagaza I’m moved beyond words. I found out that there are no borders. If there are any, they’re
they ones we erect ourselves. #PalFestGaza

@mischahiller #PalFestGaza is a reminder that literature always flourishes where humanity is most
tested.

@yelkhoudary #PalFestGaza - a beautiful combination of literature, culture, resistance, knowledge

and free thinking! Can’t get any better!

@myfreepal #PalFestGaza reminds us of the change literature can make. Let this be a spark for the
talented Palestinians to carry on.

@myfreepal I can’t wait for #PalFestGaza to get started. For the first time in Gaza we have something
really huge and exciting.

@myfreepal Gaza is full of talented writers. They just need a #PalFestGaza to encourage them.

@imnadz I’ve never been happier! #PalFestGaza. Welcome home :)

 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Photo by Mai Saad

 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Media

Press coverage of the festival was, as usual, extensive.

In English, the festival was covered in In Arabic the festival was covered in

The Guardian al Shorouk

Haaretz al Masry al Youm
CNN al Tahrir
the Electronic Initfada al Ahram
Guernica al Youm al Seba3
the White Review al Badil
Press TV al Wafd
Bookbrunch
English PEN It also received coverage on every major
Egypt Independent satellite channel in Gaza and on two primetime
news shows in Egypt.
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Summary

PalFest’s four-day festival in Gaza was the achievement of a long-term aim. PalFest used the historic
moment when it was possible to pressure the Egyptian government to issue permits. It made a big
noise in the Arab media where issues of the role and the accessibility of culture were discussed, and
it contributed to the ongoing dialect between the Hamas government and a broad section of young
Palestinians. For four intense days artists and cultural leaders from different Arab countries had their
first ever face-to-face encounter with their counterparts and audiences in Gaza and both sides saw
what they meant to each other. It was inspiring to see young women at al-Aqsa University insist on
continuing discussion and debate for three hours during a power cut, to see children open up to
creative writing exercises, to see families and young people refuse to be segregated during a concert.
It was instructive and heartbreaking to experience Israel’s invisible occupation marked by stone and
barbed wire to the north, east and south, and by a wall of light 4 miles out to sea on the western
side. For four days the coffee-shop in the PalFest hotel buzzed with debates and jokes and music and
laughter; we saw the living testament to the contribution culture can make to an extreme situation
and we felt its power.
 Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

Plans for Palfest 2013

To finally connect with audiences in Gaza helped us consolidate our links to Palestine and gave new
meaning to PalFest - but it is only the start of the work that must continue in Gaza.

We feel that while PalFest must continue its central annual event in the occupied cities of the West
Bank, Gaza needs a more constant and ongoing engagement. We all need to consider how this can
be done.

For the moment, we are working on producing a publication with “Diwan Ghazza” - a blogging
competition that connects voices across Palestine - and we will continue our year-long education
work with high-school students via the Palestine Writing Workshop. We also anticipate that many of
our participants, who were greatly affected and impassioned by PalFest Gaza, will initiate their own
projects and links with audiences in Palestine, as has happened in previous years.

Also, one of our unchanging aims is to find ways of connecting with new Palestinian audiences,
whether within historical Palestine or in the Palestinian diaspora – such as the young refugees in
Lebanon and Syria. Now that PalFest has held five successful festivals in Palestine – in the occupied
cities, in Gaza, and within the green line in Nazareth - we need to find a way to reach out to the
refugee communities. This will enable PalFest to build upon its previous successes whilst remaining
dynamic and forward-thinking.
Palestine Festival of Literature
2012 Report

www.palfest.org