China Miéville

Susan Abulhawa

Henning Mankell

Chinua Achebe

Geoff Dyer

Michael Ondaatje

Linda Spalding

Adam Foulds

Pankaj Mishra

Claire Messud

Kamila Shamsie

Teju Cole

Deborah Moggach

Michael Palin

J.M. Coetzee

Raja Shehadeh

Rachel Holmes

Sabrina Mahfouz

William Sutcliffe

Mohammed Hanif

Molly Crabapple

Alice Walker

Mahmoud Darwish

Ed Pavlic

Gillian Slovo

Ru Freeman

Najwan Darwish

Jeremy Harding

Yasmin El-Rifae

Suheir Hammad

Mercedes Kemp

John Horner

Suad Amiry

Bridget Keenan

Jehan Bseiso

Atef Abu Saif

Omar El-Khairy

Selma Dabbagh

Remi Kanazi

Muiz,

Ghada Karmi

Maath Musleh

Nancy Kricorian

Nathalie Handal

Victoria Brittain

Jamal Mahjoub

Writers from Alice Walker to Michael Ondaatje to Claire Messud share their thoughts on one of the most vital gatherings of writers and readers in the world. The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008 by authors Ahdaf Soueif, Brigid Keenan, Victoria Brittain and Omar Robert Hamilton. Bringing writers to Palestine from all corners of the globe, it aimed to break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, "the power of culture over the culture of power." Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems, and sketches from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and hope in the most desperate of situations. Contributing authors include J. M. Coetzee, China Miéville, Alice Walker, Geoff Dyer, Claire Messud, Henning Mankell, Michael Ondaatje, Kamila Shamsie, Michael Palin, Deborah Moggach, Mohammed Hanif, Gillian Slovo, Adam Foulds, Susan Abulhawa, Ahdaf Soueif, Jeremy Harding, Brigid Keenan, Rachel Holmes, Suad Amiry, Gary Younge, Jamal Mahjoub, Molly Crabapple, Najwan Darwish, Nathalie Handal, Omar Robert Hamilton, Pankaj Mishra, Raja Shehadeh, Selma Dabbagh, William Sutcliffe, Atef Abu Saif, Yasmin El-Rifae, Sabrina Mahfouz, Alaa Abd El Fattah, Mercedes Kemp, Ru Freeman.

Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature

This Is Not A Border

Moving from Khartoum, Sudan, to Washington, D.C., and then across the US in a road trip unlike any other, this is a book about music, friendship and the desire for home

The Fugitives

This is a beautifully evocative novel with a compelling central theme - man's quest for knowledge - and some magical ingredients - the double storyline (past and present), the 16th-century Mediterranean setting, the optical device, the 'twins', Jutland, physics, astronomy, archaeology, destiny, superstition and legend. Jamal Mahjoub has an extraordinary imagination and uses language in a striking way (he is particularly good at evoking all the sounds and smells of the different places in the novel). This book heralds the arrival of an extremely distinctive young novelist.

The Carrier

The Kamanga Kings, a Khartoum jazz band of yesteryear, is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime when a surprise letter arrives inviting them to perform in Washington, D.C. The only problem is . . . the band no longer exists. Rushdy is a disaffected secondary school teacher and the son of an original Kamanga King. Determined to see a life beyond his own home, he sets out to revive the band. Aided by his unreliable best friend, all too soon an unlikely group are on their way, knowing the eyes of their country are on them. As the group moves from the familiarity of Khartoum to the chaos of Donald Trump's America, Jamal Mahjoub weaves a gently humorous and ultimately universal tale of music, belonging and love.

Ellena Savage

Rebecca May Johnson

Tessa Hadley

Roger Deakin

Caleb Azumah Nelson

Jo Hamya

Amy Key

Amy-Jane Beer

Michael Malay

Niellah Arboine

Marchelle Farrell

Essays from the Water's Edge

By the River

In Jutland a scientific instrument is discovered in an archaeological dig and a young Turkish archaelogist is invited to examine its possible origins. This opening episode takes the reader back in time to 16th century Algiers. A noble- man has fallen in love with one of his servants and it transpires that both she and the nobleman's wife give birth on the same day. One of the "twins" becomes a slave to his brother bud decides torun away to educate himself and stop being a slave. He joins the crew of a ship bound for the new world, which is caught in a storm, drowning everyone except him. He is washed up on the shores of Jut- land and rescued, then goes to Cyprus where he spends 3 years reading and learn-ing and becomes a scholar working in a library. He returns first to Jutland thenheads south on a ship which will take him back to the world he left behind.

This first novel follows the journey of a young man from a mixed family who travels from Britain to the Sudan to claim his heritage from his father. As famine inexorably moves into the western part of the country, Tanner finds himself the embodiment of the same malaise gripping Africa.

Navigation of a Rainmaker

Liverpool, 1958, and German refugee and inventor Ernst Frager is in search of a sense of belonging. What he finds is an unusual nightclub on the Mersyside docks, and Miranda: hat-check girl, aspiring jazz singer and daughter of West Indian immigrants. Their doomed love affair will have repercussions for the children waiting for Ernst back in London, but also for the daughter Miranda gives birth to. Almost half a century later, Jade finds herself grappling with the very questions that drove her father into the arms of her mother, and realising that a successful career cannot define an identity; nor can you separate your existence from all the many other stories connected to it ... Like the jazz that snakes its way though this beautiful novel, The Drift Latitudes is about how we improvise our lives and the chances we take. From the Nubian boy who flees the tedium of home to find the bright lights of New York's jazz scene, to Ernst's daughter Rachel who turns her back on Europe and follows her husband to the Sudan, it is about the movement of people around our globe and the interdependence of our dreams. Awash with memorable characters, filled with unputdownable stories, this is a brilliantly intricate novel that lingers in the mind long after its final note.

The Drift Latitudes

Yasin is driving through Europe with his seven year old son Leo, not sure where they're going. He just knows that he's 37, about to be divorced, and that this is his last chance to explain to Leo who he is and where he comes from. The problem is that Yasin isn't sure of the answers himself.

Travelling with Djinns

Nineteenth-century Sudan, wracked by religious, cultural, and political differences, is brilliantly evoked in the most ambitious book yet by this talented novelist. This, Mahjoub's latest novel, centers around the Battle of Omdurman---one of the great colonial wars in Britian's attempt to gain control over the Sudan. Mahojoub brings this period to life with perception, honesty, and integrity. This is a story of fighting men, most Sudanese but some British; some showed wisdom, but for the most part they were either mad or misguided. Mahjoub writes with a profound, poetic intensity that illuminates a wide range of characters; from the cook to the Mahdi, from an Arab prostitute to the gentle Hawi, whose powerful message combines with the judgment and blindness of the other characters to bind the story together in a satisfying yet disturbing way.

In the Hour of Signs

'A travelogue and memoir to rank alongside anything by Chatwin or Thubron' Jim Crace 'A most absorbing and rewarding book' Michael Palin In 1956, Sudan gained independence from Britain. On the brink of a promising future, it instead descended into civil war and conflict. When the 1989 coup brought a hard-line Islamist regime to power, Jamal Mahjoub's family were among those who fled. Almost twenty years later, he returned. Rediscovering the city in which his formative years were spent, Mahjoub encounters people and places he left behind. The capital contains the key to understanding Sudan's divided, contradictory nature and while exploring Khartoum's present – its changing identity and shifting moods; its wealthy elite and neglected poor – Mahjoub also delves into the country's troubled history. His search for answers evolves into a thoughtful meditation on the meaning of identity, both personal and national. A Line in the River combines lyrical and evocative memoir with a nuanced exploration of a country's complex history, politics and religion. The result is both captivating and revelatory.

Khartoum, City of Memory

A Line in the River

Jamal Mahjoub

About

Books

Join the club