eye on palestine: talk with fatena al ghorra

on thursday 7th of may, fatena al ghorra will come to rokko to talk about her book 'uittocht naar gaza'. a book about the faces and voices of gaza, about the sensation of a glass of drinking water, about singing as a form of resistance and words as the only painkiller. this night is part of eye on palestine in ghent.

together with fatena al ghorra we will make space for grief and resistance. the night will be moderated by amani el haddad.

october 2023. for the first time in fifteen years, the belgian-palestinian writer fatena al ghorra visits her family in gaza. when all hell breaks loose on 7 october, she refuses to leave her elderly parents behind. under a barrage of israeli bombs, they flee headlong – her mother barefoot – to al-quds hospital. that becomes their refuge. they remain there with twelve thousand others for almost a month.

whilst gaza is being reduced to ruins, fatena sits in her tiny square metre of space in a corridor on the fourth floor of the hospital: without privacy or light. she writes. they are letters to her niece lamar. there is misery and death in her words, but they also pulsate with life. she writes and does what prisoners and the unemployed do: she cherishes hope, just as mahmoud darwish and rifaat alareer wrote.

• thursday 7 may, 18:00-20:00
• free, but reserve your seat: https://forms.gle/DoRTda61THvWppNy9
• english
• there will be vegan gyozas
• buy her book 'uittocht naar gaza' before or during the event, preorder via info@rokko.be

rokko is a feminist, queer, radical bookshop and coffee bar. we invite everyone to help create a safer space: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18wdj19t_VJDkoV8V7sE7Nn9otjLWgoFaGhJ3smUMXwY/edit?usp=sharingrokko is wheelchair accessible, but the toilet does not yet meet all requirements. the doorway is wide enough and there are handrails, but the washbasin is quite close to the toilet bowl.