Poetry Reading: 48kg by Batool Abu Akleen
# Please note, the date for this event in the printed programme is incorrect. The correct date is Saturday, 13 December.
Readings in English and Arabic of 48kg, an astonishing debut work by Batool Abu Akleen.
“One of the most viscerally affecting collections of poems I have ever read. Devastatingly precise and unforgettable images emerge from every line.”—Max Porter
“The poets of Palestine have become vital archivists. In 48Kg Batool Abu Akleen not only provides brute testimony of the Genocide committed by Israel against her people, but by her inventiveness and surreality, by the barbed humour and bitter irony of her voice, and the tender revelation and humane wisdom of her work, she defiantly gives voice and futurity to Palestinian life. She writes that she waits for death, ‘like a mother expecting her newborn’ telling us ‘I will scream / I will feel his head coming out of my body.’ No one should have to write these incredible, haunting lines, but everyone should read them. This is an extraordinary book of poetry.”—Jack Underwood
In association with Tenement Press and East Bristol Books.
Donations
All donations from this year’s festival will go to Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), providing humanitarian assistance as well as health and social services to Palestinians whenever and wherever needed. You can donate here.
