Voices of Resilience to bring Gazan words and music to Edinburgh International Book Festival

Comma Press will bring Voices of Resilience—a "defiant" performance of writing by Palestinians—to Edinburgh International Book Festival next weekend. 

The readings of prose and poetry will include extracts from Atef Abu Saif’s Don’t Look Left: A Diary of Genocide, published by Comma Press and now translated into 13 languages. 

The event will take place on the 18th August with a cast of Scottish and international readers and performers, led by the Scottish-Syrian actor Firas Ibrahim. Ibrahim will read from Abu Saif’s diary, with poetry performed by Ahmed Nehad, Nada Shawa, Noor Hemani and Basma Ghalayini. The performances will be accompanied by traditional oud music from Ahmed Adnan and a visual score from Gazan filmmaker Hossam Abo Shammallah.  

The event is directed by the British-Palestinian artist and theatre director Dani Abulhawa in collaboration with Comma Press. 

Shawa, a poet from Gaza who lives in Scotland, said: "I am delighted to participate in Voices of Resilience, especially at this most dreadful and sad time personally. Raising the voices of Palestine, I believe, is defying those who wish to exterminate us."

The event will be followed by a Q&A with the performers and local activists including Willie Black, poet Iyad Hayatleh and author Jessica Gaitán Johannesson. 

This Edinburgh event follows Voices of Resilience’s first sold-out event, at HOME arts centre in Manchester in April.

Abu Saif’s diaries have also been published in the New York Times and the Washington Post. 

Voices of Resilience will take place at the EFI Spiegeltent, Edinburgh at 9pm on Sunday 18th August.