Spoken Word: from and for Palestine
“Every beautiful poem is an act of resistance” – Mahmoud Darwish
Poetry has long been an act of resistance for Palestinians. Extraordinary poets like Mahmoud Darwish, Fadwa Tuqan, Tamim al-Barghouti, Hala Alyan, Remi Kanazi, Refaat Alareer, Mosab Abu Toha, Walid Daqqa, Samih al-Qasim, Ghassan Kanafani — to name just a few — use the art form to speak on the plight of the Palestinian people in a time when many attempt to silence them.
The spoken word performances of Rafeef Ziadah and Mohammed Moussa – founder of Gaza Poets Society, the first spoken word community in Gaza – inspire the world as they speak about the reality of apartheid under Israeli occupation.
To honor these and other revolutionary Palestinian poets and spoken word artists, we are organizing a night of spoken word and oral poetry performances dedicated to Palestine — a special edition of the monthly multilingual spoken word night, Spoken Maik. We call upon participants to perform their original work (spoken word, slam poetry, short-form prose) or the work of Palestinian poets. On Saturday 8 June, participants will have around five minutes each to perform their selected text.
To participate, please contact us with your performance proposal by Friday, 24 May:
- Send us a message on Instagram @SpokenMaik
- Or, if you prefer, by email spokenmaik@gmail.com
We are happy to work together to prepare your presentation, suggest texts already translated (Arabic/other languages to English/Greek and vice versa), and read the translation alongside you.
The spoken word night will be hosted at KET on Saturday 8 June, curated by Stavros Anagnou and Niki Papadogiannaki, in collaboration with KET and Delphine Leccas (AIN).
“The world will never be the same since the genocidal war ravaged Gaza. Gaza will never be the same. Our writings and us, neither.” – Ziad Majed, French-Lebanese political scientist, author and researcher
Spoken word, a form of oral poetry with experiential, political or satirical elements, focuses on the words themselves, their dynamics, the tone of voice, the gestures and expressions that accompany the utterance of the speech. It draws its roots from gospel, jazz, soul, Beat Generation poetry, the Harlem Renaissance movement. Today it is a global and diverse artistic medium of expression.