The opening of the 2011 Palestine Festival of Literature, popularly known as PalFest, was overshadowed this year both by the horrific and the positive.
Palestinians and their supporters were shocked by the Gaza kidnapping and murder of activist Vittorio Arrigoni, news of which was confirmed on 15 April, PalFest’s opening day.
Although festival events continued as planned, around a hundred people marched in the West Bank—and more in Gaza—in remembrance of the Italian author of “Stay Human,” who was hanged by a small Salafist group. Meanwhile, the international participants of PalFest managed to cross the King Hussein Bridge and arrive on time for the first night’s discussion.
PalFest’s second day was concurrent with a very successful TEDxRamallah event, which featured some of the same speakers as the literary festival. The Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) event, based in Ramallah, was streamed live to a global audience.
The literary festival, set to continue through 20 April, opened for the first time this year with a day-long children’s festival. According to Egyptian novelist and PalFest founder Ahdaf Soueif, around 400 children participated in reading workshops, puppetry projects and face-painting at the Bethlehem-based Lajee Center. The “grand climax,” Soueif wrote on the PalFest blog, “was every child tying a message or a wish to the string of a helium balloon and everyone letting go at the same time and the balloons floating in a swarm of color into the sky.”
“One little boy said he hoped his balloon would get to Gaza,” Soueif wrote.
This is symbolic of much of what PalFest, now in its fourth year, attempts to do. At a talk last year at the American University in Cairo, Soueif said that “definitely the motivation of PalFest is to allow people to see each other.”
The festival celebrates a few local authors, such as poet Najwan Darwish and memoirist Suad Amiry, and sponsors writing workshops at local universities. But, beyond that, one of the festival’s core missions is to bring in authors from around the world and take them to various sites around Israel and Palestine.
Orwell Award-winning Palestinian author Raja Shehadeh, who has been involved with the festival from the start, said that this year, visiting writers will see even more Palestinian cities. “For the first time, PalFest is being celebrated in Nazareth, a Palestinian city in Israel.” This helps give a more comprehensive picture of Palestinian realities, he said. “The Festival this year is also trying to expose the international writers to one of the areas of active conflict…in Silwan in Jerusalem.”
PalFest is not like other book festivals in the region and beyond; the measures of its success aren’t rights’ deals or books sold. Shehadeh said that he has judged the festival’s success based on “how strong an impression the visit…has had on [the authors] and their willingness thereafter to speak out against the outrageousness of the situation here.” He added, “Some important connections were made with visiting publishers and editors which has helped local authors.”
The festival has come under criticism, in the past, for the English-language focus of its events. Last year, journalist Sousan Hammad wrote an essay that suggested the event was elitist.
Shehadeh, who writes in English, acknowledged that language is a hurdle. “There is always this problem when the majority of the participating authors from abroad write in English and their books have not been translated into Arabic.” But he said this doesn’t make PalFest elitist because “English is an international language.”
He added that the “festival has made serious efforts in the past to provide translations of sections of the books of participating authors to give the local audience who cannot read English a flavor of their writing.”
Palestinian-American poet Nathalie Handal, who writes in English and is participating in this year’s events, brushed aside the criticism.
“Palfest has been highly successful: It's thought-provoking, educational, creative, and vibrant, reaching thousands of people of all ages. It's important as a cultural and literary bridgemaker.”
