A good poem restores our sight and our hearing.” – Charles Simic
The vision for this programme began at an extraordinary level. When an academic instructor at Birzeit University saw immense potential in students in the field of imagination and creativity, she was determined to embark on a special project that would provide creative students with a unique opportunity.
The founder was inspired by the work of the Palestine Festival of Literature in 2009, when PalFest visited Birzeit and gave 6 workshops on various topics for students. The creative writing workshop saw three times as many students as any other workshop, evidencing the desire of students to learn techniques for expressing themselves through new modes.
With guidance from the Birzeit Department of English Language and Literature and the Center for Continuing Education, the vision grew, to build and sustain a community for emerging writers. To realize the vision, we had to expand the workshops, and structure them into a comprehensive programme that could fully support the growing vision. Thus, the Palestine Writing Workshop was created ,and with the willingness of PalFest participant and South African writer Rachel Holmes, the Workshop launched its first writer in residence workshop. Almost immediately, the programme drew overwhelming interest, and began to develop young potential and merited diverse support. Thanks to the Palestine Festival of Literature and the British Council in particular, the Workshop has been able to build its foundation.
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THE TEAM: The Palestine Writing Workshop team is composed of 1 dedicated director with the vision, 3 student interns with the motivation, 3 writers in residence with the experience, and dozens and dozens of inspired, emerging writers.
THE ADVISORY BOARD:
Ruanne Abou-Rahme is a visual artist and filmmaker as well as a poet and graphic designer. She is part of the audio visual group Tashweesh while also creating solo and collaborative art installations.
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American based in Al-Bireh/Ramallah, Palestine. He is a freelance business consultant operating as Applied Information Management (AIM), specializing in business development with a niche focus on the information technology sector and start-ups. Sam was instrumental in the establishment of PALTEL and the PLAZA Shopping Center and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Birzeit University. He is also a Director at the Arab Islamic Bank and the community foundation Dalia Association. Sam writes frequently on Palestinian affairs and has been widely published. Sam is co-editor of HOMELAND: Oral History of Palestine and Palestinians
Najwan Darwish was born in Jerusalem, Palestine, in 1978. His first poetry collection, He was Knocking at the Last Door, was published in 2000, and some of his poems have been translated into Spanish and French, as well as of course into English. He is the editor of Min wa Illa, the From and To magazine which publishes the works of the current generation of Arab writers and artists in the region. Najwan is active in diverse media and art projects in Palestine, the Arab world and Europe. His poems evoke the Palestinian situation in various modes of
resistance—-through lyricism mixed with irony, and a strong sense of immediacy
as defiant melancholy.
Remi Kanazi is a Palestinian-American poet and writer based in New York City. He is the editor of Poets For Palestine, an anthology of poetry, spoken word, hip hop, and art. His political commentary has been featured in print and online media throughout the world. He has performed poetry across North America and has appeared in the New York Arab American Comedy Festival. He is a recurring writer in residence for the Palestine Writing Workshop as well as a member of its advisory committee. He is currently working on his first collection of poetry, due out in the fall.
Dolly Kaibni Nammour is the Chairperson of the Department of English Language and Literature at Birzeit University as well as the Director of Development at MIFTAH.
Rumzi lyddawi founded 7iber.com, where he works with communities around the Middle East in using new media as an outlet of expression, a space for critical conversations, and for organizing collective actions. He has a B.S. in rhetoric and communication from Iowa State University, and an M.S. in technical communication from the University of Washington in Seattle.
PARTNERS:
Birzeit University Center for Continuing Education: The CCE is a non-profit organization founded by the university, which offers training in professional skills and development. The CCE hosts the program, providing facilities, technical support and guidance.
Birzeit University Department of Language and Literature: The Department of English provides feedback, direction and administrative support, as the Writing Workshop reaches out to department students in particular.
The Palestine Festival of Literature: PalFest collaborates with the Palestine Writing Workshop on the Writers in Residence portion of the Programme. PalFest serves as an orientation of sorts, upon which the Workshop builds by inviting PalFest participants back for more in depth workshops. PalFest is not only a partner, but an integral part of the origin story of the Workshop, interwoven into the very foundation of the programme’s initial conception.
The British Council: The British Council supports PalFest as well as the Writers in Residence Workshop. The British Council further supports the Workshop through the book club programme, shipping books from the UK and delivering them directly to us.
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Poetry of Palestine is a monthly literary event where poets, both established and emerging, are offered a performance space in which to share their work and inspire one another as well as their audience. Thus, Poetry of Palestine is programmed to showcase poets on the second Wednesday of every month for a 60 minute period before opening the floor to new talent. We hope you’ll join us for a great night of poetry in Palestine.
Book Clubs
Book Clubs are student reading groups that can be part of a class or workshop, as in Cloud Walkers (described below) or simply from a group of interested students. The role of the Palestine Writing Workshop is to provide books for the students, and support their meetings however we can.
If you would like to join a book club, just email us at write@palestineworkshop.org
*Cloud Walkers Book Club is a student book club created by students in who participated in British author Rachael Holmes workshop. The book club served as an interim activity between the first part of the creative writing workshop, held during November 2009, and the second part to held in May. The Club aims to encourage students to read new books, critiquing and critically engaging them, and to introduce students to recent works by creative writers. Every six weeks the Club received 10 new books sent by Rachael Holmes with the help of the British Council; thus every six weeks the members of the club read a new book and then met to discuss that book
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