Wed 16 Jul, 7-8pm
A unique evening of stories and discussion with Mazen Maarouf, Anwar Hamed, and Basma Ghalayini, launching Comma Press's daring new anthology, Palestine Minus One - an exploration of the event that underpins Israel's 77-year-long occupation of Palestine: the Nakba of 1948.
As a prequel to Comma's award-winning Palestine + 100 science fiction project, this anthology asks ten Palestinian authors to re-imagine the build-up to the catastrophe of 1948 as well as its immediate and long-term repercussions, using fantastical, supernatural and speculative tropes. All of these writers had grandparents or great-grandparents who were forcibly displaced during the Nakba, and all offer new ways of re-processing that trauma. Tonight we'll hear from two of the most prominent Palestinian authors out there: Mazen Maarouf and Anwar Hamed, along with the anthology’s editor Basma Ghalayini.
The discussion will be chaired by Comma Press founder, Ra Page.
Tickets: £5, or pay what you can
About the speakers
Mazen Maarouf is a writer, poet, translator and journalist currently living in Iceland. He has published two collections of short stories - Jokes for the Gunmen (translated by Jonathan Wright) which was shortlisted for the Man Booker, and Rats that Licked the Karate Champion’s Ear - as well as three collections of poetry, and a novella. He was also a contributor to Palestine + 100.
Anwar Hamed is a Palestinian novelist, poet, and literary critic, living in London and working for the BBC World Service. Anwar has published eight novels in Arabic, and a number of other works in Hungarian. His novel Jaffa Makes the Morning Coffee was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF). He was born in Anabta in the West Bank near Tulkarm, where his family comes from, and grew up in Hungary. He is author of 'The Key', originally commissioned for Palestine + 100, which has since been adapted for the big screen.
Basma Ghalayini has translated short fiction from the Arabic for the KfW Stiftung series, Beirut Short Stories, and Comma Press. She is the editor of the award-winning anthology Palestine + 100. She lived in Gaza until she was 27.
