Mai Al-Nakib the author of the novel An Unlasting Home and the short story collection The Hidden Light of Objects, winner of the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s First Book Award in 2014 will be joining Ananke’s Women in Literature. Festival 2024. distinguished list of speakers this April. The festival will take place on April 23rd, 2024.
Al-Najib’s fiction has been published in Ninth Letter, The First Line, After the Pause, Rowayat, and The Markaz Review. Her occasional essays have appeared in World Literature Today, the Blog of the LA Review of Books, The Millions, and the BBC World Service, among others. She was an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Kuwait University for twenty years. She is currently working on her next book.
Image: Keemiya Creatives
Talking about the event and her participation, Al-Nakib said: “I am thrilled to be participating in the 2024 Ananke Women in Literature Festival. This year’s conversations—centered around the words we use to construct narratives that shape our sense of the world—could not be more timely. In the wake of the ongoing devastation in Gaza, words fail and the role of art seems, at best, inconsequential, at worst, solipsistic. Yet, against colonial violence and political ineptitude, language, culture, and art become the means through which to resist, to chart justice, and to insist upon survival. I am confident this year’s festival will engage difficult questions toward inventive and inspiring perspectives.”
AnankeWLF envisions to initiate thought-provoking conversations about how literature, art and other forms of creativity produced by especially women, as well as other vulnerable groups can be highlighted, promoted, and celebrated globally via digital documentation, dialogue, and more.
All forms of art and creativity are not just noble pursuits, these are the fundamentals on which fair, equitable and tolerant societies are built and sustained. Artists, poets, writers, painters, filmmakers, journalists, photographers, musicians and more – each have a catalyzing role to play in sparking positive change. With this vision in mind, AnankeWLF sets forth to transcend language, politics, socio-cultural boundaries, bringing people together through its 2024 Festival.
The fourth edition of Ananke’s annual Women in Literature Festival 2024 will officially open its digital doors on April 23rd, 2024. The digital festival is a flagship event of Ananke’s Women in Literature Foundation – a collective formed by Ananke.
More exciting announcements coming soon.
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Images by Keemiya Creatives
