The Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) was established in 2008 with the aim of showcasing and supporting cultural life in Palestine, breaking the cultural siege imposed on Palestinians by the Israeli military occupation and strengthening cultural links between Palestine and the rest of the world.
They work to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, “the power of culture over the culture of power”.
This year the festival will take place from 31st of May to 5th of June, in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Haifa, and Nablus. All events are free and open to the public. During the festival, in cooperation with Bethlehem University, there will be a series of short workshops on journalism, feminism, performance poetry, Palestinian literature, cinematic adaptations of literature and novel writing.
Artists confirmed so far are:
Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Susan Abulhawa, Ahdaf Soueif, Iyad Barghouthi, Teju Cole, DAM, Ministry of Dub-Key, Najwan Darwish, Nathan Hamilton, Nathalie Handal, Ahmed Harb, Amer Hlehel, Hanne Vibeke Holst, Brigid Keenan, Rana Khoury, Ursula Lindsey, Sabrina Mahfouz, Micheal Ondaatje, Ed Pavlic, Mazin Qumsiyeh, Sapphire, Rachel Shabi, Kamila Shamsie, Farag Sleman, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Haifa Zangana, Rafeef Ziadah.
It’s a great lineup and I sure do feel great sadness of not being able to be there. But, I’ll follow it dearly!
For more information about the festival, go to the official website.
