Palestine Festival of Literature


The Palestine Festival of Literature is an annual literary festival that takes place in cities across Palestine.

History

The festival was founded in 2008 with the stated mission of affirming "the power of culture over the culture of power" and breaking what it considers a cultural siege against Palestine. The festival's founding chair is the novelist and political commentator Ahdaf Soueif.
In an effort to overcome restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement the festival travels to its audiences, putting on free events in Arabic and English in the cities it travels to. The festival traditionally performs in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Haifa and Nablus. Because travel to Gaza is so restricted far fewer events take place there. In 2012 the festival happened exclusively in Gaza, as it was able to pressure access through Rafah, Egypt.
Mahmoud Darwish sent a message to the inaugural festival in which he wrote: “Thank you dear friends for your noble solidarity, thank you for your courageous gesture to break the moral siege inflicted upon us and thank you because you are resisting the invitation to dance on our graves. We are here. We are still alive.”
Visiting author China Miéville said the festival is "not only the most powerful and important literary festival it's ever been my privilege to attend, it's one of the most powerful and important things I've experienced, full stop".
After ten editions the organisers announced they were taking a year break to assess the role of the festival in a rapidly changing world.
In 2019 the festival was re-launched with "a sharpened focus on how to foster new writing that clarifies and frames the connections between the colonization of Palestine and the accelerating systems of control and dispossession around the world."

Patrons & Participants

Patrons of the festival are Chinua Achebe, John Berger, Mahmoud Darwish, Seamus Heaney, Harold Pinter, Philip Pullman and Emma Thompson.
Philip Pullman said of the festival: “Every literary act, whether it is a great epic poem or an honest piece of journalism or a simple nonsense tale for children is a blow against the forces of stupidity and ignorance and darkness … The Palestine Festival of Literature exists to do just that – and I salute it for its work. Not only this year but for as long as it is necessary”
Over 220 international and Palestinian artists have participated in the festival. These have included Michael Ondaatje, Alice Walker, Raja Shehadeh, JM Coetzee, Michael Palin, Suad Amiry, Henning Mankell, Taha Muhammad Ali, Geoff Dyer, Suheir Hammad, Claire Messud, Pankaj Mishra, Gary Younge, Richard Ford and many others.

This Is Not a Border

Dozens of authors who attended the festival went on to write about their experiences in Palestine. In 2017, Bloomsbury Books published This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature - a collection of works from 47 authors who had participated in the festival.
The New Statesman wrote: “This anthology will help turn your intellectual understanding of oppression into an emotional one”

Restrictions & Closures

2009: Both the opening and closing nights attempts were made by the Israeli police, acting on court order, to prevent the festival from taking place, since the Palestinian Authority was involved. Both times the festival relocated: to the French Cultural Institute on the first night and to the British Council on the last.
2011: Venue for the festival's closing event in Silwan is tear gassed.
2012: Closing event of the inaugural PalFest Gaza is shut down by the police. Attempts in 2009 and 2010 to hold PalFest Gaza were impeded when organizers were denied entry permits, in the latter case by the regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
2015: Festival participant Sara Ishaq, Oscar-nominated film director, is prevented from entering the country by Israeli border police.
2015: Festival participant Ahmed Masoud, is prevented from entering the country by Israeli border police.

Awards & Praise

“A literary festival as well as a journey... it has made me quite poignantly aware of what the occupation means to people and of their determination to speak up for the writers and musicians who feel that the occupation has taken their voice away... An eye-opening experience” – Michael Palin
“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
“Thanks for being who you are and for giving us such exposure to wonderful people. Palestine is proud of you” – Suad Amiry
“It's a festival like no other. It is so much more than a festival.” – Geoff Dyer
“PalFest's uniqueness stems from the fact that during the day it allows writers to carry out that most important of writerly tasks – bear witness … We go to PalFest to feel ourselves part of the world” – Kamila Shamsie
“PalFest is a necessary, confronting and enlightening event for anyone with an interest in writing, freedom and human rights … A life-changing experience” – Bidisha
“Truly life-changing … As a human being and as a writer, this was a revelatory experience” – William Sutcliffe
“Packed with so much genius and courage and heart I don't know what to say except thank you and I have new favourite writers” – Molly Crabapple
“The most rewarding – and challenging – literary festival a writer could hope to take part in” – Jeremy Harding
“One of the most affecting trips of my life” – Sabrina Mahfouz
“Every literary act, whether it is a great epic poem or an honest piece of journalism or a simple nonsense tale for children is a blow against the forces of stupidity and ignorance and darkness … The Palestine Festival of Literature exists to do just that – and I salute it for its work. Not only this year but for as long as it is necessary” – Philip Pullman
“PalFest is not only the most powerful and important literary festival it's ever been my privilege to attend, it's one of the most powerful and important things I've experienced, full stop” – China Miéville