Palestinian Festival of Literature Celebrates Its Ninth Year This Month With Host of Stellar Guests

May 21st to 26th will see the annual Palestine Festival of Literature (PalFest) taking place in cities across historic Palestine as international literary stars - including JM Coetzee, Colum McCann, Laila Lalami, Saidiya Hartman, Remi Kanazi and Barry Lopez - perform free, public events in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Haifa and Nablus.

Now in its 9th year, PalFest aims to break the cultural siege imposed on Palestine by the Israeli occupation. The restrictions the Israeli military occupation imposes on Palestinians’ freedom of movement mean that the festival travels to its audiences. By day, the international participants take politico-historical tours and meetings with artists, authors and activists. By night, the  authors stage free, public readings.

Participating Authors:
Ali Abu Ajamieh, Mahmoud Abu Areesheh, Amina Abu Safat, Asmaa Azaizeh, Ahmed Azem, Jehan Bseiso, JM Coetzee, Ben Ehrenreich, Inua Ellams, Mohamed Elshahed, Nathalie Handal, Saidiya Hartman, Amer Hlehel, Anjali Joseph, Remi Kanazi, Majd Kayyal, Muqata'a & Haykal & Julmud, Yasser Khanjar, Tarek Khateeb, Laila Lalami, Rickey Laurentiis, Barry Lopez, Ghiath Al Madhoun, Ahmed Masoud, Colum McCann, Ali Muassi, Ben Moser, Hisham Nafaa, Mostafa Qossoqsi, Jack Shenker, Bhakti Shringarpure, Ahdaf Soueif, Basima Takrori & Hzar Yousef

All PalFest events are free and open to the public, and in combination of Arabic and English with simultaneous translation, so check out their schedule.

You can also check out all festival news via the links below:

1. Facebook & Twitter for regular posts on all things Palestine
2. Scribd for reports on previous editions of the festival
3. Flickr for photographs from all the PalFests so far
4. YouTube for videos made during and about the festival.
5. The Big Give to donate to making PalFest 2016 happen.
6. Etsy to buy a famous PalFest tote bag.