palfest 2011 report

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Palestine Festival of Literature

Report 2011

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


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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


Report 2011

Overview

Partners

Objectives

Author Experiences

Student Experiences

Summary

Plans for Palfest 2012

Closing Statement

Contents

LocationsParticipants

PalFest team

Funders

Palestine Partners

UK Partners

1. Supporting cultural life

in Palestine

2. To create active, nurturing,

cultural links between Palestine

and the UK

3. To renew media interest in the

human situation in Palestine

Meena Alexander

Ursula Owen

Bidisha

Fawziah AbuAllan

Alice Yousef

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


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28 5 5

500 600200

Writers

15 Palestinian

13 international

Universities Evening events

Evening audienceStudentsattended specialised

workshops

Childrenattended the 1-day

childrens festival

Childrens Festival, Lajee Centre, Aida Camp, Bethlehem.


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The 4th Palestine Festivalof Literature took place from

April 15th 21st

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

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 NasirUrsula 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 JaberAmani Shaheen

Abeer Zaghari

Overview


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


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Jerusalem

Partners

The African Community Society

Al Quds University

Silwan Solidarity Group

The Bookshop at the American

Colony Hotel

The Educational Bookshop

The American Colony Hotel

The Legacy Hotel

The Jerusalem Hotel

Nazareth

The Arab Culture Association

Ramallah

The A M Qattan Foundation

Birzeit University

The Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre

TEDxRamallah

The Edward Said National

Conservatory of Music

Palestine Writing Workshop

Falastine al-Shabab

Tamer Institute

English PAL

The Movenpick Hotel

Bethlehem

The Lajee Centre

Dar Annadwa

Hebron

Hebron University

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

Dar al-Kalima Bethlehem University

The Hebron Rehabilition Committee

Nablus

Project Hope

Yaa Cultural Centre

an-Najah University The Yasmine Hotel

UK Partners


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Report 2011

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


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Objectives

1. Supporting cultural life in Palestine

The Festival Week

PalFests aim of connecting international writers with Palestinian writers and audiences continues

to oer an eective and original platform for generating new connections whilst negotiating the

diculties 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 Yaa 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 stawas 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.


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Obstaclest The venue of the closing night, the Silwan Solidarity Tent, was attacked by IDF troops, with allsurrounding 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 ewthemselves 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 oer it again for 2012. With sucient 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 AhdafSoueif all contributed letters.

The book is due to be published in early 2012.


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Objectives

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

This year we collaborated on several high-prole 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-from-

palestinian-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.


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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 Beirutand the Bookseller, as well as several

authors blogs.

In the Arabic press articles appeared in Al Quds, Qadita, Al Arab, Al Khaleej, Ashamas, Bokra, PANetand

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 Observerabout her experiences in Palestine.

Author and broadcaster Bidisha has written a short bookBeyond 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 theAmerican 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, Nablus to Nazareth. Photo by Tamara Abdul Hadi


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


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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.

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


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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 specic questions of Israel and Palestine and oers

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.

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


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


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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 couldntnish 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 dierent, 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 wasvery 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.


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


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SummaryAs governments across the world fail to make any signicant steps towards securing justice for the

Palestinians the burden has fallen on civil society to take action. PalFest is one of many initiativesthat 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 signicant 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 oce 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 oce 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 thenear future.

To build upon our previous successes and to remain dynamic we need sustainable funding for 2012

and beyond.


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


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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 whichGaza 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 oer 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 oer is of a high-

standard.

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-in-residence, larger public events and serve as a creative, collaborative hub for students and young

artists in need of collective space.


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4. To redesign and develop the PalFest website

It is important to redevelop the PalFest website ahead of our 2012 festival to ensure ecient

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.


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Sheikh Qassem Cafe, Nablus. Photo by Raouf Haj Yehia


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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 dierent 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.


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Th e ol d ma rk et , al -K ha li l/ He br on . Ph ot o by Mu iz An wa r

palfest 2011 report

Documents