Date: 5 - 9 May 2012 (Gaza), 11 May 2012 (Cairo)
The Festival will take place in Gaza from May 5th to May 9th, with an event in Ramallah on May 5th and a reprise event in Cairo on May 11th.
It has been a longstanding aim of the festival to travel to Gaza. Since it started in 2008 PalFest has taken the form of a travelling festival – moving to audiences constrained and divided by Israel’s military occupation, establishing creative links between Palestine and the rest of the world and pitting the power of culture against the culture of power.
PalFest has tried several times in the past to reach Gaza from the Occupied Palestinian Territories but has never been able to because of the restrictions put in place by the Israeli Occupation. Gaza has been under siege and isolated from the rest of the world since 2007.
This May, PalFest 2012 will bring a group of writers, educators and artists through the Rafah crossing from Egypt to perform free public events, run workshops with students of varying ages and meet civil society leaders in Gaza.
PalFest has endorsed the 2004 Palestinian call for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. PalFest 2012 stands against the siege of Gaza; it is committed to re-invigorating cultural ties between Arab countries, ties that have been eroded for too long. The Festival will be bringing writers and artists from across the Arab world and beyond.
While the Festival’s primary activities will be taking place in Gaza, PalFest works to retain its active presence in the West Bank. British authors Rachel Holmes and Bee Rowlatt will lead extended creative writing workshops in Birzeit with the Palestine Writing Workshop. They will also be joining Maya Abu el-Hayat, Abd al-Rahim al-Sheikh and Imad Sayrafi on stage at the Sakakini Centre on May 5th. A one-day children’s literature festival will be held during the Festival, with plans for a larger children’s event in the summer.
Beyond the Festival dates PalFest continues its educational programme through its sister organization the Palestine Writing Workshop, whose activities include regular book clubs, creative writing classes and the creation and maintenance of a library.
PalFest will be launching a new, bi-lingual website this week. Developed with the support of the UK Arts Council, the site will be profiling 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.
The full list of artists attending PalFest 2012 is:
- GAZA
- Ghada Abd el-Al
- Alaa Abd el-Fattah
- Suad Amiry
- Selma Dabbagh
- Najwan Darwish
- Amr Ezzat
- Amin Haddad
- Tariq Hamdan
- Nathalie Handal
- Manal Hassan
- Khaled Khamissi
- Jamal Mahjoub
- Sahar el-Mogy
- Khaled Najar
- Youssef Rakha
- Ahdaf Soueif
- Hyam Yared
- Nariman Youssef
- & the bands Eskenderella, Jafra and al Salam.
- Birzeit & Ramallah
- Maya Abu el-Hayat
- Rachel Holmes
- Abd al-Rahim al-Sheikh
- Bee Rowlatt
- Imad Sayrafi
Further Information
PalFest is supported by the Arts Council UK, the Abdalla Foundation, the British Council, the Open Society, the Qattan Foundation, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, Reach out to Asia and individual donors, Rana Sadik, Samer Younis, Fadi Ghandour, Riad Kamal, Zina Jardaneh, Mostafa Beidas, Suhail Sikhtian and Janwa Dajani.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For inquiries: contact@palfest.org
Website: http://palfest.org