Deadline: 17 - 21 May 2012
On the wave of the “Arab Spring”, synonym of transformation and renewal, Baad El Bahr Cultural Association (BEBA) is launching the third edition of the Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival, an event that has proven itself a tangible demonstration of the possibility of constructive dialogue between the two shores of the Mediterranean.
Baad El Bahr, founded as a nonprofit in 2008 (www.baadelbahr.org), is a cultural association based in Cairo and created by individuals from diverse national and cultural backgrounds, involved for years in various branches of Egypt's cultural life. The association offers to the public workshops, conferences, exhibitions and long term activities such as the translation and publication of literary texts and the ongoing Cairo Mediterranean Literary Festival, an annual appointment with different themes.
“Literature and humor” was the theme of the festival first edition (5-12 May 2010). It was co-sponsored by the Delegation of the European Community in Egypt. “Literature and humor” gave a particular emphasis to Arabic and romance languages. Guests came from Italy, France, Spain, Egypt, Lebanon and Algeria.
“Literature and the city” was the theme of the second edition (21-25 May 2011). Guests were, for the most part, contemporary authors whose works reflect the often radical changes that have taken place in cities in the last twenty years. The festival hosted writers from Italy and Egypt who participated in round table discussion.
The 2012 edition of the festival is entitled “Literature and Body” and will take place in Cairo from the 17thto the 21st May 2012.
The festival this year explores the long-standing but inexhaustible relationship between "literature and the body."
The body has been present through centuries of literature as an object of constant attention, undergoing continuous changes, but without losing its freshness and its ability to amaze us.
To paraphrase the title of a collection of short stories by Raymond Carver, what is it we talk about when we talk about the body, in our modern times?
There is probably no vision more different, from one side to the other of the Mediterranean, from country to country, than that of the body. So it will be more interesting than ever this year to hear the voices from different cultural backgrounds, incited in different ways to probe themselves and each other.
The theatrical reading form seems to us particularly suitable for this edition, where the text is elevated by the physicality of the “rap-rep”. There will also be conferences for deeper reflection, face-to-face or virtual encounters between authors, visual support in the form of two major exhibitions dedicated to the body and films and documentaries, as well as interactive seminars and book presentations. All of these, we hope, will make for discussion that is as vibrant and vital as the body itself.
Most of the guests are contemporary authors from the Mediterranean basin such has the French philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky and the Egyptian philosopher Anwar Moghith, the Lebanese director Jocelyne Saab, the Italian authors Simonetta Agnello Hornby and Viola Di Grado, the actress Fernanda Calati, Alessandro Golinelli, the Spanish writer Maria Laura Espido Freire and more.
The festival events will take place in different venues in Cairo in partnership with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Institut Français, Instituto Cervantes, Mashrabia Gallery, British Council, Goethe Institut, Alitalia and Rising Stars.
Links: festival program, guests
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Website: http://www.cairomedliteraryfestival.org/
