FATENA’S POETRY SALON “PEARLS FROM THE CANON”

Step inside the Middle East and  be welcome to Fatena Al-Ghorra. This special Palestinian poet was born in Gaza City and ended up in Antwerp after an eventful life. In addition to her words, she also brought her dreams with her. The biggest dream? Creating a literary meeting place where leading poets from here and elsewhere  could meet. With her poetry salon revives an important Arab tradition. The best poets of two worlds enter into dialogue with each other here.
This special edition of the salon is dedicated to the literary canon. Peter Holvoet-Hanssen and Arno Van Vlierberghe go pearl diving in the Arab canon, Fatena Al Ghorra, Nasr Jamil Shaath and Mona Al Assi discover gems in the Dutch canon. Together we go on a poetic treasure hunt. One pearl has already been found: world star Kamilya Jubran is singing the stars of the heaven of Ghent.

with: Peter Holvoet-Hanssen, Arno Van Vlierberghe, Fatena Al Ghorra, Nasr Jamil Shaath, Mona Al Assi en special guest Kamilya Jubran.

A production of VONK & Zonen with the support of het Vlaams Fonds voor de Letteren i.c.w.  de Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde (KANTL) and  De Centrale.

Peter Holvoet-Hanssen (Belgium) is a literary millipede.  He calls himself a "modern troubadour" because of the musicality in his poetry. He has many praiseworthy prizes on his list, including the Flemish debut prize, the Dirk Martens Prize for Literature and the Ark Prize for the Free Word. From 2010 to 2012 he was the city poet of Antwerp.

Arno Van Vlierberghe (Belgium) lives and works in Ghent. He studied language and literature and comparative modern literature at Ghent University and debuted in November 2017 with Vloekschrift. A promising poet who is not averse to engagement and experiment.

Fatena Al Ghorra (Palestine) is a journalist, promising poet and the driving force behind Fatena's poetry salon. She has published four poetry collections since 2000 and in 2012 she won the El Hizjra prize for poetry. The first collection in Dutch translation came in 2014, God's deceit. She is currently working on the successor.

Nasr Jamil Shaath (Palestine) is a Palestinian poet who constantly commutes between his lives in Norway and Marrakech. He debuted with the collection The Hat of Dust is Smoke and has published four well-received poetry collections to date. His poetry is at the same time to the point and rich in images. He combines strife with peace, me with you, life with death and the visible with the invisible.

Mona Al Assi (Palestine) was born Palestinian in Syria in the Yarmouk refugee camp. She studied English literature at the University of Damascus. In Syria and Dubai she grew into an important media figure. Since 2011 she lives in Switzerland. Her poems have already been translated into French and Bulgarian.  In Fatena's Poëziesalon a selection of her work will be heard in Dutch for the first time.

Kamilya Jubran (Palestine) grew up in a musical Palestinian family. She was brought up with classical Arab music. With her music group Sabreen she represented a voice of resistance, a symbiosis between music and politics that caused a breath of fresh air in modern Arabic music. Today she is a renowned musician who travels the world and  especially docks Ghent for Fatena's Poetry salon . Unmissable!!